


I will love

by EsperKitty



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Bullying, Drinking to Cope, Gen, Hangover, Mild Language, Near Death, No seriously how do I tag, i still don't know how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:55:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27939263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsperKitty/pseuds/EsperKitty
Summary: A new life begins for Alucard, but shadows of the past threaten to cloud the bright future ahead. Perhaps a story can ease his fears.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. They See Nightmares

How fast time had passed him by now that he was no longer alone with his thoughts, for a month had already came and gone and Alucard found that he had grown accustomed to the constant noise and activity both within and around the castle and just as he had become aware of this new normal, whatever little meaning that word had meant, these same things were changing ever so slightly with each passing day. In just a few weeks time the newborn Leon had already begun to crawl and babble, certainly growing a bit more quickly than a pure blooded human infant but not as fast as Alucard thought, perhaps due to a difference in monster blood. In that same time Vali and Vera had already begun their first attempts at flying and were becoming adamant on venturing out into the surrounding woods on their own, though luckily Adam, a bit too quickly in the mind of the vampire, was more than willing to start teaching the twins how to properly hunt when the patriarch was not lazing about after a tiring day of minding the hellspawn, patrolling, and hunting.

For the lord of the castle, when not spending time with the peculiar clan of misfits, he would most likely be found in his personal study reading yet another tome of magical knowledge from the Belmont archives or at the very least attempting to make some sense of the damn things as even despite some weight being lifted from his shoulders his fears still lingered around. These fears and anxieties were sometimes loud and deafening, the only thing he could hear for many moments, assuming his vision was not accosted by horrid nightmares during day and night. But when these fears were quiet, they seemed much more intimidating, whispering delicately into his ear with nothing louder than a faint gasp that were but fleeting shadows of words that still burned and clawed with a fury, their touch hovering ever so slightly over his skin. On these days, he tried to be more welcoming of the noise of the manticore clan, even volunteering to care for Leon as even the ear piercing screeches of the fussy infant would be better than those accursed whispers.

And it was on one of these such quieter days that they found themselves outside once more, for it would appear that the twins get their restlessness of the indoors from the ghostly pale but shining with life mother, named for the snow white winter she resembled. Once more the trio of manticores had gone off, assuring that all will be well and with the warning to not hunt too much lest there be less game when they need it most.

"Now comes the hard part," Iarna sighed with both content and a hint of unease, laying on her stomach next to a babbling Leon. "I thought I'd be more ready for this."

"Well there is little to no information regarding the rearing of half demonic children," Alucard was sitting under a nearby tree with a book in one hand and a gently swirling a glass of wine in the other. "I certainly cannot be of any help when it comes to the venomous barbed tails, but I can make do with all the teeth."

Iarna chuckled at that, still smiling but her mind certainly adrift with such thoughts. "I haven't told you how Adam and I met, have I, Adrian?"

"From what I recall you said it was a funny story," the two were, for the most part, completely alone, the three manticores out yet once more stalking and pouncing as they please.

"A poor choice of words really," Iarna was fiddling with a little cloth doll she had crafted in the likeness of a nun, an odd choice but Alucard did not question it, letting little Leon grab at it. "But in hindsight I was quite foolish, and some could argue I still am to this day. I fell in love with a demon of all things."

"I don't consider that foolish," Adrian had a little smile of his own. "You have done well for yourself all things considered."

"And every day I reap the rewards," Iarna smiled back, her eyes still on Leon and unaware of Adrian's reaction to that word.

That word echoed in his mind over and over, ringing louder with each repetition and bringing with it a familiar stinging sensation that gently brushed his ears, burning them a hot itching blood red as the memories of that awful night begun to rush into his mind in such a quickness he became afraid that this, the warm summer sun, the fresh cool breeze, the scent of wild freedom, the calm of the day, a reason to find hope every day just within arm's reach, was all his imagination, a dying wish of what he wished to be true in his last fleeting moments of life as the blood spilled from the wound in his chest-

"Adrian?"

Her voice was soft but louder and clearer, breaking the haze of dying whispers and visions, her eyes, blue as the sky and the water and perhaps even brighter than a couple of sapphires in the treasury, widened with worry.

"Adrian," she spoke again and he saw that she had began to sit up. "Are you feeling ill?"

"N-no," he lied, taking a longing look at his wine. "I-" he found that he could not bring himself to meet her gaze. "I have not slept well," he took a long drink of the alcohol. "Studying and all."

The way her breath caught in her throat and her heart beating faster told him that she was not convinced with his answer...

"I see." She said, looking back to Leon. "Perhaps it is time to set down the books."

"I am perfectly capable of stopping whenever I want," Adrian took a smaller sip of the wine, savoring the last of it and ignoring every urge to grab the whole bottle sitting in the little wooden basket and drinking the whole thing in one go, and this time his eyes did catch Iarna's expression and it was not one he wished to see upon her. "Just one more book."

She gave the smallest of sighs and nodded. "If you insist, my lord."

He did not say anything more as the whispers hissed within his ears, eyes no longer focused on the words on the page but instead flicking up every so often at the mother and child as if fearing that should he took his attention away from them for too long they would disappear, never to be seen again, perhaps never even existing in the first place and his mind had created more phantoms to taunt him with.

But for now, he would focus on them, and the sensations around him that told him that this moment was indeed the reality he lived in. He can count each leaf on each branch of each tree or each blade of grass and tiny insect that crawled in its depths. He can feel the warm light of the sun, the summer breeze, the same grass under his body, and the hard bark on his back. He can hear the cooing of Leon, Iarna's gentle replies as if she can understand what nonsense the baby spoke of, and in the distance, birds. The smell of the forest and its animals with the faintest whiff of demonic presence, and much closer, wine, and the taste of it on his tongue was all he wanted to indulge in and perhaps try to drown out the haunting whispers..

"Do you believe in any faith, Adrian?" She spoke again after some time.

"Not really." he replied immediately without much thought. "In science mostly if that counts for anything."

"Is that so," Iarna's tone was so low, but it had very little softness to it, in a way almost similar to when she summoned the barn owls and her voice spoke with a long simmering anger but instead of anger there was another emotion that he did not yet identify but could relate it to something akin to pity. "It makes sense, it's all you've ever known."

Now it was his turn to be curious about the situation. Her eyes had that same hidden shine as when she recognized him and kept it to herself, but what she was hiding this time he could only guess to be her own dark past, still an enigma to him as he could only really guess where she came from and how she came here. As far as he knew she could have been raised by some demon worshiping cult and Adam was her betrothed, a somewhat entertaining notion in of itself but until she said otherwise it was but one speculation.

"Iarna-"

Just then Adam dropped down, Vali and Vera in his arms, and between his teeth, holding it by the tail, a large fish still twitching around with the last bit of life.

"Oh? Back already?" Iarna raised an eyebrow, picking up Leon and placing him in her lap.

Adam nodded and answered as best he could with the fish in his mouth, setting down the twins and the two of them shaking off some water. The twins hurried to their youngest sibling, each carrying a little trinket from their hunting; Vali, a suspiciously foul smelling clump of rock, and Vera, a stick.

"Mama! Mama!" Vali presented his treasure. "I found some shit!"

"Language, Vali." Iarna scolded.

"Oh." Vali pouted but immediately regained his excited smile. "I found poop!"

"And I found this stick!" Vera smiled proudly.

"It sounds like you had lots of fun," Iarna smiled at them brightly, with absolutely no hint of her earlier contemplation. "I want to hear all about it."

Alucard watched them and glanced at his book, taking another sip of wine as Adam dropped the fish into the basket. "He's not bringing that shit into the castle."

"He will tire of it by then," Adam sat with a thud and yawned, his teeth and mouth a bit bloodied.

"You said that the last time and I am still cleaning it from those sheets," Alucard hissed and with far more malice than annoyance than he intended to speak with judging by Adam's reaction of leaning away from the vampire. "Anything to report?"

"The humans seemed to have learned their lesson," Adam kept his voice low. "They reek of fear. I doubt they will be coming to the castle any time soon, and I am sure they have already made up some story about it."

"Good." Alucard drunk the last of the wine in the glass. "Perhaps you should fly around the city every few nights and roar like an idiot. Keep them afraid like the rats they are."

The vampire took notice of how the manticore reacted, the lowering of the chin, usually in bashfulness but the unwavering cold blue eyes, only filled with false humanity, were not cast down, and with the slight narrowing of his eyes the vampire realized that the manticore was in fact putting all of his energy into careful thought.

"What?" Alucard glared at the manticore, who narrowed his eyes more in response.

Lowering his head a little more, the manticore responded. "You are upset at something."

"I don't want to talk about it." Alucard returned his eyes to his book, though reading was the furthest thing in his mind, the whispers still in his ears as he tried to ignore them and keep himself in the present.

"As you wish," Adam closed his eyes and returned his attention to his mate and his spawn. "Though in speaking of pests, I am investigating an odd scent in the forest."

"Investigating?" Alucard chuckled a little at the thought of the manticore sniffing and poking around at inconspicuous things trying to look for clues like a bloodhound.

"It should not be of any trouble. It is not human if that is what you are concerned about." Adam continued.

"If you're thinking of keeping it the answer is no," Alucard shot a smaller glare at the manticore. "If you want a pet, pick any one of the rats in the Belmont hold."

"No, that is disgusting."

"Then shut up."

Still, the manticore had been restless, eyes cast downward.

"What?" Alucard sighed in annoyance.

"It is Leon." Adam's voice was low as he spoke.

Perhaps the vampire had been more attached to the little hellspawns than he realized, for whatever he had been previously thinking about suddenly became far less important.

"What specifically?" Alucard looked to the manticore, seeing the eyes furrowed far more than he ever truly seen.

"He..." Adam's hands twitched. "Cries a lot. More than Vali and Vera."

"Growing pains." Alucard tried to assure. "Human babies do grow rather quickly on their own, and the demon blood does quicken that rate even more."

The manticore did not seem too relieved. "He spits up quite a bit."

"I know this is quite amusing coming from me but for a demon you do seem rather involved with this sort of thing." Alucard raised an eyebrow.

Adam turned with a quickness towards the vampire, eyes with absolutely no trace of anything that resembled human or even a natural animal.

"Don't look at me like that." Alucard hissed lowly. "You cannot expect leon to be like his siblings, even they are different from each other. Unless there is something you think is relevant that could have affected Leon's health before he was born, I do not believe there is anything wrong besides him just being a bit more needy."

The manticore looked down again, perhaps trying to think, but he did not speak anything.

"Take your time," Alucard looked back to his book and took another sip of wine. "We have all of eternity here after all."

Adam did not speak up, perhaps assured about his son, and the rest of the day had swiftly passed by in bit of a blur in Alucard's memory. The return to the castle, the cooking of dinner, all the usual small chatter around the dinner table that was honestly much the same every day of how much the little ones were growing and their little adventures into the forest that were either climbing up this tree or that or following this animal or another, and in comparison to the whispers that still taunted him, such mundane musings were far easier on the ear and his had half a mind to keep any one of them awake just to have someone to talk to for the night but that would have been selfish, so he instead tried to brave the night with only his own mind to face.

She couldn't have known just how much that word would damage him. That word and how quickly that night had become one of the most terrible events in his life, even with the fact he killed his own father, said father attacking him in blind rage, and his mother being murdered. And now those thoughts were joining the sultry hisses of that dark night, adding even more distress to his mind and how he gravely miscalculated how much wine he would need.

"Would it be too cruel to those rats to take out these frustrations on them," he wondered out loud as he drank another glass of wine.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and he almost dropped the wine bottle in surprise, becoming even more confused at the very notion that he, a vampire, could be startled by such a small thing, his memories of that event not even considered.

"Come in." He said loudly, hearing the distinct delicate almost silent footsteps of Iarna. "Is something wrong?"

Wrong choice of words. Those were the same words, he was so stupid. Stupid stupid stupid! But he had no reason to be so fearful now, he understood that perfectly well in an attempt to ease his racing thoughts. He was in no danger, and any potential danger that could but certainly unlikely to occur were not serious threats upon his life and even if they were he had more than enough skill up his sleeve to deal with such things.

"I should be asking you that." Iarna closed the door behind her and wandered towards the bookshelves. "You're really enjoying that book, aren't you?"

"Hm?" He looked at the book and the multiple wine bottles. "Oh. Yes. Truly a fascinating read about-" his eyes glanced at the page and spoke the words that first caught his attention. "Snails."

Iarna had her arms crossed and her shoulders were tense, only loosening ever so slightly but her hold on herself grew tighter as she sighed. "Adrian, you have had guests before, haven't you."

It was not a question, a factual statement that was filled with something akin to the rage and hatred that once held his heart what seemed so long ago currently seething in his heart, his expression in the reflection of the wine twisted in anger.

"Yes." His voice was now that of those whispers, barely a word, a mere breath in the quiet. "You are a smart woman, you can figure out who was here before you."

She reached out to touch the books but stopped, as if they were precious and fragile things that were break with but a single glare. "You don't have to tell me what they did to you." Her voice was broken with a controlled grief as she sighed. "I understand at least some of that pain. Seeing the worst of humani-"

He slammed the book closed and his heart, despite all of the rage within it, regretted such a thing as he saw her quiver and freeze at the sudden loud sound that preceded the eerie silence of the oddly cold summer night.

"I don't want to talk about it." He finally hissed.

Her heart beat quickly with fear, and the vampire hated himself more than anything that he was the cause of that distress. She held her breath and let it out slowly, shaking but trying to reign it in and keep herself steady.

"Adrian," she held her hand to her heart, hesitating to face him but when she finally did, her eyes with cast down before quickly flicking upward to look him in the eyes. "I want to tell you a story."

Of all the possible things that could happen tonight this was not one he expected.

"I don't believe now is the best time to tell me how you and Adam created those two hellspawn," he sighed, drinking his wine.

"No, it's not." Iarna turned now to the newly repaired window, seeing the silver crescent of a moon in the night sky. "This story is about a certain girl who lived years ago in a certain town far, far away from here."

Now he was curious. A tale to ease his mind perhaps? He had noticed that she treated him as if he was one her own, a treatment he did not quite resent nor did he quite welcome, but he accepted it nonetheless. Or was this a cautionary fable? An old tragic legend?

"Does this girl have a name?" He asked.

"Her name," Iarna eyes were fixed on a certain distant point that he knew he would not be able to see should he be standing where she stood, "was Rozalia."


	2. Scientifically Misunderstood

No one truly had any idea of what happened that cold December night howling and roaring with a flurry of furious snow, though if any being, living or dead, knew the truth of that night perhaps they would be able to explain why a little newborn, fragile and wailing with what little strength it had, was left on the doorstep of a church, or at the very least the identity shadowy figure dressed in heavy robes who had done such a deed. That mystery might forever be just that, a question with no answer, for the baby was of the church now, and its weakening cries were hushed and calmed by a young woman dressed in a nun's habit, her hands working diligently with sheets and warm water as she prayed for the life of the tiny babe, and for five long years she prayed every night, and for five long years she watched as what was once a small bundle of weak cries grow into a young delicate sprout.

"Well well well, look who crawled out of the dungeon," a voice sneered from behind as the little girl was tending to the church's garden. "It's Sunday you idiot, aren't you supposed to be damning all our souls to Hell or something?"

She did not look, eyes only on the flowers and not on those taunting smiles.

"What's wrong Rozalia?" Another voice, still hissing with a grin like the first, joined in. "Did you give the devil your tongue?"

"Or did you forget it at your witch sabbath?" A third voice laughed, and all three were cackling like mad.

With a start she stood, the other three surely jumping back a bit at the sudden action, and she took a deep breath, clasping her hands together as her murmured to herself, though this was soon interrupted as a hand reached for her hair and violently jerked and pulled, forcing the girl to look into the deep green eyes of her tormentors.

"You better not be cursing us you little monster," the blonde haired girl hissed and glared. "Speak up! Or I'll tell Sister Sandra you were speaking in demon words again."

"I said I'll pray for you, Angela." The girl whimpered. "For the good Lord to bless your hearts and-"

Before she could finish, she was once again interrupted and thrown to the ground, a foot now on the back of her head, keeping her pinned against the rocks and dirt that surely scratched and dirtied her clothes.

"Don't say my name!" Angela shouted with a fury, rubbing in the heel of her shoe into the girl's head and pressing down harder. "Damn you witch!"

"Oi oi," another voice called, a man's voice and one that the girl was conflicted about hearing at this moment. "What's going on here?"

The foot was removed from her head and the little girl was able to pull herself up from the dirt floor, feeling her cheek and finding a bit of blood coming from a small scratch, seeing the same went for her knees. She looked up, only a quick glance as to not incur any more ire, and saw that they were stepping away, hands behind their back.

"Nothing. We came to say hi." Angela said so surely. "Right Rozalia?"

She did not look up, but tilted her head down, seeing that some of the growing flowers were caught in the mess.

"That's the rudest hello I've ever seen then," the man sighed. "Why don't you three go bother the butcher's boy? He's out running errands now."

"Edwin is out?" One girl gasped in surprise.

"We have to hurry!"

"Shut up you damn hens!" Angela shouted as she ran off, the two others close to follow behind and with their footsteps fading in the distance, the heavy boots of the man came closer.

Still, she did not lift her head.

"That looks like it hurts." He said gently, scratching the back of his head and adjusting the surely matted mess of raven black hair.

"I don't need help from a lowly thief." She turned her head away from him as she stood, wincing from the cut on her knee.

"Does Sister Crina know about them?" He asked, his hand reaching for his pocket and producing a rag, the fabric rough against her cheek as he tried to clean the wound a bit. "I can tell her for you-"

"No!" She yelped, clamping a hand over her mouth and looking around. "I'm fine David. Why are you here?"

"To get more of the Lord's blood of course," David smirked a bit. "Best wine in the whole city, and its such a shame we only drink it one day of the whole week."

"Indulgence is a sin you know." She pouted, sitting and allowing the thief to tend to the wound on her knee as well.

"And so is lying, but you didn't say anything to those three." David's words rang true and she could not respond with words, only pouting and sniffling from the stinging pain. "I get it. They're bigger than you, and there's three of them. But you don't have to suffer just because those girls don't have anything better to do before they crap out some bastards. Lord knows the world has enough of those kind of people."

"Why do you care, thief?" She looked him in his dark and cold gray eyes.

"Well," he smiled gently, his hand patting her head lightly and ruffling her hair. "I'd hate to see a kind soul like yourself be treated like that."

"You're going to Hell." She glared as best she could at him, which only made him laugh even more.

"We all are sweetheart," he stepped away, tossing a bread roll between his hands, surely stolen from the bakery, and tore it in two, holding out one half to her. "I'll be nice and save you a seat."

Her face went red with a mighty rage, but her hands did not react violently, instead clasping together once more and continuing her prayers.

"A diligent little girl you are," David smiled and was about to pocket both halves of the bread when something caught his eye. "Ah, good morning Sister Crina! A lovely day isn't it?"

The girl felt something like panic as she turned to see her guardian, brown hair neatly tucked away and matching eyes that were like a gentle cooking fire, carrying a heavy laundry basket and rushed to help, much to the amusement of the thief.

"Thank you my child," Sister Crina smiled before turning her attention to David. "Truly a blessed day, perhaps enough to confess your sins and ask for forgiveness?"

He laughed a bit. "No, but enough to admire a most splendid flower," he winked at Sister Crina and the nun's cheeks did flush with a hint of red.

"I am a woman of God," she smiled at him as she strung up the laundry to dry. "Your masculine charm has no use here."

"I can still admire from afar," he seemed to enjoy this little game but apparently had more thieving to do as he disappeared into the shadows as all proper scoundrels do with a whistle on his lips and a hop in his step.

Such was a normal day for the little girl, a rose bud as white as snow that had yet to bloom, and as she silently prayed for the strength to endure and hoping that one day this too may pass, she prayed for Angela and her two friends to find happiness, she prayed for the silver tongue thief David to be forgiven of his sins and be let into Heaven should his misdeeds lead to his demise, and she prayed for Sister Crina, for the swiftly approaching winter months were always hard for her as Sister Sandra always gave her more work to do in these cold times, especially so as this year had been leading to quite a frantic day, even more full of excitement and restlessness as compared to the few years she could remember before, as for one reason or another Sister Crina and Sister Sandra seemed to be regarding the coming sixth birthday of the little girl as something a bit more special than the five previous years, and the other nuns were becoming more and more like gossiping hens with each passing day.

But for now, neither the whispers of gossips or the insults of the misguided was here nor there, and the little white rose bud waited patiently, rushing to and fro in the church to attend to her long list of duties, mostly cleaning wherever her little hands could reach to a polished shine and keeping out of sight as much as she could, a task much easier said than done as she was pale as a sheet and quick to spot like a sore thumb.

Eventually she reached another important duty, studying the holy book, yet another undisputed task that she followed to the best of her ability made slightly easier as she had known its contents for as long as she could remember, when Sister Crina came in, a small bowl of water and a clean rag in hand.

"How are you feeling, my child?" She asked, her hand lightly touching the faint red scratch on the girl's cheek.

"I feel well, Sister Crina." The little girl did not move her eyes from the book, for if she did the true feelings in her heart would surely spill out in tears and sobs.

"David told me what happened with Angela," Sister Crina wet the rag and dabbed at the scratch, the pain no longer as intense as before but the cloth much more comfortable as compared to whatever rough fabric the thief had. "They are nothing to worry about my child. Soon they will tire of this behavior and-"

"Does God hate me?" The child asked suddenly. "Is that why Angela hurts me?"

Sister Crina's eyes seemed tense with a worry but she smiled and hugged the child all the same, tight and warm. "God loves all his children, and you are loved very much, my child."

And in the Sister's arm, the rose bud felt safe and away from all harm, knowing that so long as she was with the devout woman, all will surely be well as the good Lord intended.

So with each passing day that seemed to both be crawling so slow a snail could be mistaken for a horse by comparison and yet rushing so fast that the winds would be envious to the point of sin, the rose bud endured the hissing words and rough handling of Angela, and each day she hoped that David would be a better person only to be disappointed in his latest haul of stolen goods, and each day she secretly tended to some of Sister Crina's duties when finding the time between her own never ending quest to appease Sister Sandra.

One the eve of the child's sixth birthday, all had been silent but not with anticipation of what little merriment the church would allow, but with a dread that hung over the little girl as if the very Devil himself was hovering over her shoulder, casting his shadow upon her and filling her heart with an unease that no amount of passages read from the good book could subside.

Sister Crina assured her that all will be well and the little girl had no reason to not believe in her guardian's words, and so with one final prayer she had fallen asleep, the cold night howling and her dreams nothing but an odd foreboding darkness as if she was encased in stone.

When she awoke it was with a start, and the night had grown much darker and much more threatening than before, the sound of something metal clanging to the floor echoing in her ears but she could not understand where it came from or why.

"H-Hello?" She asked to, hopefully, no one within the inky black darkness of the night, her breath shaking like a leaf desperately trying to cling to its branch, the blankets unable to provide any warmth. "Is someone there?"

Whispers filled the quiet of the now, hushed and hurried and desperate much like the thudding of footsteps approaching her door. The voices grew closer with each passing moment and her heart was thumping loud within her ears, her body wanting to desperately run and hide but she was frozen with fear until finally the thudding footsteps stopped at her door, the knob jerking violently, causing her to throw the blankets over her head and to lay as small and still as she could as the door squeaked open and small quiet feet approached her bed.

"Rozalia," it was Sister Crina, her voice gasping but clear as day. "Rozalia, wake up my child!"

The girl peeked out from under the safety of her blankets, seeing her guardian and she could not explain how but she knew that something of the most terrible circumstances had just occurred. It could be the way Sister Crina's eyes were wide with fear and worry, or how disheveled and shaken she looked, her veil nowhere to be seen and her hair frayed and unkempt, and behind her was David, his hand to his mouth and his eyes also wide as he kept looking into the hall with desperation.

"Rozalia, I don't have much time to explain, but you need to go with David." Sister Crina said as she started grabbing clothes and stuffing them into a bag as the thief paced around, cursing and swearing under his breath.

"What?"

"You need to go with David and do as he says," Sister Crina repeated. "It is not safe here, my child. I cannot protect you here, but David knows of a safer place, and he can hide you-"

"Hide? From what?" Rozalia looked to David again and for the first time in her life, the thief truly did seem to have a fear in him, not of God, not of Hell or its demonic forces, but of something else entirely that she could not understand. "Sister Crina-!"

"Rozalia." Sister Crina hugged her tight. "I love you-" her voice hiccuped, and the child could feel a slight wetness on her cheek. "I love you very much, my child."

"Crina-!" David hissed as he opened the window, the winds rushing in with no remorse. "We don't have much time!"

"Go, Rozalia," Sister Crina pulled away and gave the child the bundle of clothes and, from the smell emanating from the deeper depths underneath the cloth, bread. "Be strong, and let your heart take courage."

"No!" The child pleaded and cried. "I don't want to go! Why do I have to go? Haven't I been good?"

"You've been perfect, my child," Sister Crina's eyes were filled with sorrow but she smiled in vain for the child's sake, not even minding the bloodcurdling scream coming from downstairs and it was at that moment the child had seen the red staining the nun's hands.

"Crap crap crap-!" David hissed looking outside. "We have to go now!"

Sister Crina rose, the child in her arms as she approached the window and looking at David, who had the same odd flush of red in his cheeks when she pressed her forehead to his.

"Keep her safe, David." Sister Crina's voice was barely a whisper to him, but loud enough for the child to hear.

David's breath had been caught in his throat but he nodded, eyes filled with the same turmoil as her guardian. "I will. By God and the Devil, I will give my life for this child."

The two watched as David jumped out the window and landed with little difficulty onto the ground, catching the hastily filled bundle as Sister Crina tossed it down to him, the thief looked back up at them as more footsteps and voices began to arise within the church's walls, frantic and panicked as if demons had entered the holy ground.

"Sister Crina, I don't understand-" the child tried to cling to her guardian. "I don't want to go!"

"I love you-"

The child was let go from her guardian's arms and into the waiting hold of the thief, and the last the little girl had seen of the one warmth in her life was a pained smile fading into the dark of the night as David ran, carrying the little girl in his arms and still swearing a storm mightier than the freezing winds.

And just like that, the rose bud was unceremoniously snatched from her garden, The thief did what he did best and stayed in the shadows, ducking in alleys and backstreets so quickly that even if the little girl had managed to free herself she would not be able to find her way back, and all the while he was assuring the rose bud she was safe with him despite his, in her eyes at least, sinful ways of thievery and lying. At some point, they had left the city altogether, the walls becoming smaller and smaller as they ran into the night and not even stopping when the sun had begun to rise on the horizon. Her birthday was not spent in the warm arms of the warm love and light she knew but in the cold night of the wild winds that howled like wolves and banshees, her hands trembling as they reached for what was left of her hair after it was cut, something that supposedly was part of the thief's plan to keep her safe, as instructed by the one neither of them had wanted to leave behind.

Some days later, still walking slowly and only barely able to wake up from yet another freezing night, they ate what little rations of the bread they had left, now hard as stone from improper handling and tasted much like it as well.

"She's not coming, is she?" The little rose bud did not look up at him, not wanting to meet the gaze of a man who saved her from what she could not understand.

In turn, he did not look at her, perhaps because if he did, he would see something he could not bear to witness, even in the light of his life of crime. "No. I don't think so."

The little rose bud, still shivering in the cold morning light and with no fire, as the thief was certain a search was underway and the smoke would be unwise in their escape at least until they were certain they were far enough away, clasped her hands together and prayed. All the passages she listened to, all the hymns she had memorized, all the words of comfort she could remember, all of them, anything to ease this new pain in her heart...

......

............

"Iarna-"

"Don't cry for the stupid Adrian," Iarna's eyes narrowed at her reflection. "You'll be at it all day."

"You were just a child-!" He almost yelled but held his tongue at the last moment, the final word a hiss in the night. "I must ask, what of-"

"Angela?" Iarna interrupted too quickly. "Who knows. Last I saw her, I pushed her into a ditch." She let out the smallest of laughs at that. "That surely did me no favors in Sister Sandra's eyes. I do know they never really bothered me after that day. Perhaps I was no longer fun to prey on."

"Of Crina."

It hurt to see how she reacted to that name but it was all she had, and to be torn away from it was a pain he understood, and she of all people, especially after regaling such a tale, should understand that more than well enough. Yet she stood there, silent, eyes once again fixated on some point he could not identify with a look that was darker than the bottom of the sea.

"Come now my lord," Iarna spoke quietly. "You're a smart man. Surely you'd figured it out by now."

He knew the answer, even the dumbest of fools would understand that answer but his eyes welled at the thought, and he was angry at himself for it. To be so young and to endure so much, to be ripped away so quickly. What went through her head that night? That surely it all had to be some horrible dream? And how long, how many days, weeks, years even, did she hope it was a nightmare that would end? How long did she wait to wake up, to see that smiling face again, and for all to be as they were before, even the horrid parts?

No, he clenched his fists. What was done is done. Her tormentors were either long dead or a long forgotten memory, and it was not as though Alucard could simply turn on the castle's mechanisms and head to that unknown city just to tell some woman he's never met that she could talk a long walk off a short pier. So there he sat, fuming with hatred once more and reaching for his wine, finding that as he had listened to the story he had been drinking it when he realized he was feeling slightly dizzy and woefully ungraceful.

"Do you know why I wanted to tell you this, Adrian?" Iarna's voice spoke up again, as if she could see that he was attempting to drown out his rage.

"In an attempt to make me feel better, though now I'm only more sure that I hate humans," he poured himself another glass, feeling her gaze on him.

"To say you hate humans is to say you hate me," she tilted her head at him, and still he could not meet her eyes, still bright with life and yet still an unfathomably deep and dark as the blackest night void of emotion, as if despite all the years that had passed those memories might as well have been yesterday to her.

"You are not like other humans." He asserted.

"But I am," she smiled. "I'm full of hate, just like those who torment me, and I hate her for not being able to come with us. I'm jealous and envious of those who got to have normal lives and yet I spite them and their short fearful days of blind faith by living my own life to how I want it. I'm sure I'd be flayed and quartered the moment I step back into that town, but it's so far behind me now," she looked out the window. "I was born human just like the-"

"No you're not!" He stood. "You are human but not like them." He repeated, surely baring his fangs but not out of malice. "You are not them."

She looked at him with those dark eyes for a moment, her face showing no emotion. She closed her eyes and nodded, looking back up with a smile, her eyes filling with that kind light he knew and longed to see when it was gone.

"I know that." Iarna laughed a little. "It took me a long time to accept it but-"

The castle shook with a lazy and almost desperate roar of Adam.

"Leon's awake it seems." He swirled the newly filled glass of wine and saw Iarna's demeanor change at the mention of the baby. "Iarna, about what happened-"

"The story can wait for another night Adrian," she assured him, moving away from the window and away from her reflection that she seemed to be despising with every moment she looked into the newly repaired glass. "If you want me to continue that is, you don't have to listen to my ramblings if you don't want to."

"No, well I mean-" He sighed and set down the wine glass. "Tomorrow night. I'll bring some drinks for the both of us."

"That sounds nice," she smiled and walked out the door as another roar rattled the castle, this time the vampire being able to hear a small screeching that he knew to be the infant, and from the sound of it this time it was a cry of hunger, and the vampire nearly shook his head at the thought of the manticore trying to feed the wailing gremlin to no luck, again prompting some thought about what Adam spoke of.

After the noise came to an end, and when Alucard was sure things had settled down, the vampire rose from his chair, wine now half empty in his hand, and walked to the window where Iarna had stood as she told her story of how everything she knew had changed and ripped away from her little powerless hands in the span of a single night, and for what, he asked despite knowing the answer, his eyes looking into the window but not to the dark night outside. Religious superstitions, a blind and pure hatred born of from the primal fear of something unknown and different than the norm, a misguided attempt at keeping things as they should to the arbitrary standard of the self righteous.

With his head swirling with emotion and alcohol, the vampire sat in different seat, a small couch that was apparently for more casual meetings with guests, leaving the book where it laid unread and the bottle of wine, half heartedly thinking he should not be generous in pouring the alcohol when such a supply was already limited, that was close to empty, the wine in his hand glittering in the low light of a crescent moon, his reflection distorted but clear as day if he were not so unsteady in his seat.

"Good night," he whispered, perhaps to himself, to the phantoms that had politely allowed Iarna to tell her tale, and perhaps to the woman as well, and maybe even the phantoms that followed her as well of the one thing she had to a mother.

Down the hatch the last of the wine glass went and the vampire laid himself out on the soft seat and let himself be drifted away into a blurry haze of alcohol and dreamless sleep.


	3. Mystery of Blood and Bone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So do vampires get hangovers? Dhampirs? Aw whatever, let's rock and roll.

"Fuck."

The gold morning light that he had come to appreciate once more in all of its glowing warmth was once again a blinding and cold pain and he knew that this time it was not because of the phantoms that spent every moment of their pitiful existence trying to drag him down into their realm of torment but because he indulged a bit too much in drink and instead of feeling closer to truly understanding the last living Belmont and his near dependency of alcohol he only felt bitter disdain and hatred for the man.

"Fucking fuck fuck." The vampire hissed as he threw his hands to his eyes in an attempt to block out the hazardous light, feeling much more like the weak pests of common myth that were called vampires that melted away to ash and dust in the slightest presence of the sun. Adding to his already painful agony of headaches, stiff muscles, and feeling sick to his stomach, there was noise coming from all around and it was far louder than anything he had heard. "Fuck."

He groaned long and loud, growling and hissing all the while as he tossed and turned, attempting to find a more comfortable position to ease his stomach, his head, and deafen the noise that seemed to be ringing inside his skull with as many pillows he could reach. When all these efforts proved fruitless and even more of a cumbersome pain to his already aching innards, he sat up, too quickly for his vision blurred and the ache in his head worsened and what little remained in his stomach threatened to purge itself, feeling the burning disgusting bile of wine and fish creeping up his throat, and he, much more carefully now, began to stand, finding each limb heavy as if his bones had been replaced with lead and sand.

"I blame Trevor for this." The lord of the castle groaned as he rubbed sleep and weariness from his eyes, now feeling slightly less blinded by the mor-wait. The daylight was at the wrong angle for it to be morning, the sun was too far up in the sky, even during the longer hours during summer. "Shit shit shit-" He realized he had been sleeping far too long and, against all better judgement and the recent sickness in his body, rushed downstairs, unable to concentrate on anything but his breath, heavy and stale with alcohol, and the pounding sensation in his head. "Iarna-!"

Shit. Too loud. Bad idea, very bad idea, his throat hurt, he smelled absolutely awful and felt even worse, and not to mention that he was beginning to hear the phantoms whispering that this was all just a dream and he was-

"Is it safe to approach you now?"The manticore, in the most absurd action the vampire had ever seen, had meekly peeked from behind the relative safety of a corner, his eyes narrowed but his shoulders tense in some semblance of fear.

"Yes." Alucard sighed, trying to ease his head without appearing too sickly, though given how awful he physically felt one could only guess at how that was going. "You can come out now."

The manticore seemed to not believe him at first, even retreating further before deciding that the vampire's words were true. He stepped out, still slightly tense and with his eyes carefully watching Alucard as the two began walking, still a laborious task for the lord of the castle but less so after the mad dash he had done just moments prior.

"Any news of that scent you were investigating?" Alucard's eyes were furrowed in a glare as all the things he had come to love about the day were once again his greatest enemy, at least until he could flush his system.

"Hellhound." Adam answered. "Wait, no." His chin tilted downward, and once again Alucard could swear he could hear the gears turning. "Something akin to a hellhound, but not quite. I believe there is such a creature in human tales, but the name alludes me."

"Not a very bright thing, are you?" Alucard had recently taking up studying the manticore though not in any formal sense. The curious case of the manticore was one he had many questions for, but these questions were not so important or urgent that he spend any length of time trying to deduce where in its demonic head did it figure out anything more complicated than the hunt for food.

"I fail to see how knowing the name of an odd creature is relevant to Iarna or the care of the little ones." Adam, with the slightest change in the tone of his voice and the smallest twitch of furrowing eyebrows, responded to the insult against his intelligence. "I can kill it no matter what it is."

"Knowing what it is will beneficial in getting rid of it the right way." The ache in Alucard's head did not wane but he had managed to grow used to its presence. "You wouldn't catch fish with a rock now would you?"

The manticore's expression could be mistake for the same stoic look he always wore, but given the silence, the downward tilted chin, his eyes widening the tiniest bit, and the way he slowly blinked, no words were needed to know his response.

Alucard gave another aggravated sigh. "Nevermind." He saw that breakfast had already been made, along with lunch, and unless the manticore had gained an immense amount of dexterity to do delicate work, there was no question as to who made the aromatic meal of herbs and thinly sliced vegetables. "Do not approach it unless it is absolutely necessary. So long as it stays away from the castle we should have no problem with whatever it is."

The vampire did not need to see the manticore to know what was on its mind as he tried to eat the meals left for him. "And no, we are not keeping it. This is a castle, not a monster menagerie."

"You kept us." Adam muttered under his breath knowing good and well that the vampire would be more than able to hear it.

"And every day I tell myself it was for the better, hoping to believe it." Alucard continued eating, the manticore watching him and at first the vampire tolerated it, though the more he thought about it the more annoyed he became with the act. "Don't you have little bastards to go attend to?"

At that the manticore again tilted his chin down, eyes now cast down as well, his shoulders tensing up once more as if ready to run at the slightest hint of danger, and it was then that Alucard remembered the events of the night before, the words that captivated his mind and heart and how rude he was to be drinking at such a vulnerable moment, though thankfully he remembered most if not the entirety of the story thus far.

"She told you to keep an eye on me," for the third time Alucard let out a sigh, this one less much less frustrated as he could not exactly fault the woman for being worried.

"Yes." The manticore seemed relieved that he would not be at the mercy of a pissed off vampire with too much alcohol still running through his blood. "She said you drank quite a bit."

"I blame the Belmont for that." Alucard picked at the remaining food as his appetite became indecisive, still feeling sick but knowing he needed food so as to not feel even worse despite the danger of what little he ate coming back up. "If not for Sypha we would have only been drinking beer the entire time we were traveling together."

"The Belmont clan has gone to shit." Adam seemed disappointed, whether at himself for not killing the last pitiful excuse of a Belmont or because the only one he fought had died before they could meet again Alucard was not sure though it could possibly be both such circumstances and he would not blame the manticore for believing in such.

"And it's possible the next one has already been fucked into existence," Alucard felt a heat in his face and ears but kept himself from showing such emotions as certain noise and scents were drawing closer.

The manticore grew silent, eyes focused on thought again and the silence was short lived, minus the throbbing in his head that began to lessen though still with great intensity, though the meager meal had been enough to ease his aches and discomfort to the point of no longer animalistic hissing at the sight of the sun, then being convinced to come outside and not bothering to argue, in addition to the ceaseless noise of forest creatures and manticore spawn that dashed back and forth, pouncing at each other and making playful growls and yowls that grew louder as they spotted the vampire and their father.

"Papa!" Vera squealed as she leaped forward, a manticore one moment and a little girl the next, holding something in her little hands with great care.

Alucard had noticed that the twins had gotten quicker with their transformations and if he could properly think he'd try to guess at how much bigger their demon forms had grown, though for the moment likened their size with that of a fully grown hunting dog, and they were still growing, the possible limit being that of their father who could easily accommodate at least three adults in his demon form and dwarfed even the largest horse.

Speaking of bloodthirsty monsters, Vali had in his maw...something. That something was a bloody mess of limbs and fur and innards and the oldest demon spawn presented it at his father's feet with great pride, turning to his human form again just as quickly as his sister.

"You hunt well." Adam crouched down and patted his son's head, picking up the bloody corpse and taking a whiff of the object his daughter held. "This is-"

"A bone!" Vera presented it and both the adult males, the manticore and the vampire that is, looked at it at first with only some interest, at least on the vampire's end, before both noting the markings on it and its peculiar scent. "Isn't it pretty?"

Adam had that meek look again and Alucard held in his amusement at the manticore's loss of words.

"Very much so, Vera." Adam managed to speak, also patting the girl on her head.

The twins were off in their game again, Vera careful with her treasure as she pounced and leapt at her brother, carefully running around their mother who held a basket in one arm, which Adam was quick to relieve her of, and little Leon in the other.

"It's a rabbit by the way," Iarna said with a smile. "He-" her smile seemed strained but did not waver, "played too roughly with it."

Adam took another whiff of the rabbit and scrunched his nose, and for good reason for on the corpse of what little remained of what it once was, there was a scent of something neither rabbit, demon, nor human, and something suspiciously canine, though as the manticore has said earlier seemed true for the vampire as well and the yowling screeching of demon children were not helping his throbbing head think of clearly enough to remember what that creature was.

"Something is wrong with that child and it is not just the demon blood," Alucard sighed, wincing ever so slightly as Leon now had his sights on the vampire and demanded his attention with sharp squeals.

"Looks like someone wants to play with his favorite vampire," Iarna smiled and teased as she looked to Alucard, his eyes widening a bit.

"No, no-" He stepped back and Iarna stepped forward. "I am not feeling well-"

"Only an hour, I'll make dinner-"

"No-"

"You don't like my cooking?"

"It's wonderful but I cannot in good conscience-"

"Dear," Iarna spoke sharply, and with her tone she might as well said his given name Adrian but was respectful of her promise to him, "you work so hard for us, allow me to return the favor just this once."

Alucard looked to her, seeing that same kindness from the night they met, then to Leon, getting even more fussy the more the vampire refused his cries and with such earnest eyes that resembled Iarna's so much, he finally relented and held the infant, noting how heavy the thing had gotten since the last time he held the little demon.

"There there," the vampire grumbled an assurance, unsure of which one of them would be the first to spit up as he felt the meal from earlier doing anything but properly digesting in his stomach. "No need for that."

"It's only an hour my lord," Iarna assured him. "You may only need to change him once or twice, but I promise he won't spontaneously erupt into flames."

Adam, who had been inspecting the contents of the basket, looked up at that but made no comment, seemingly deciding it was best not to speak on that matter.

"Oddly specific but thank you," Alucard managed to smile despite the littlest manticore now tugging at his hair, and Adam's words no back in his mind about Leon's, hopefully minor, health issues. "I'll keep the little devils occupied."

"You are much too kind my dear golden lord," Iarna smiled and made her way inside. "I'll be making a special meal my grandmother taught me, I hope you'll like it."

Again, Adam reacted to her words and this time with some fervor, hovering closer to Iarna, looking back to the basket, and to his mate once more.

"That one?" He asked.

Iarna smiled and giggled at that. "Yes dear."

The manticore seemed a bit too excited as he followed, further amusing the vampire, and with a bit too much of a hop in his step disappeared into the castle with Iarna.

"Your parents are quite the odd pair," Adrian spoke to the infant, untangling his hair from the little clawed fingers. "Though I suppose you might never truly understand that sort of thing. You will know the fear and hatred of humans who don't understand, and be despised by full blooded demons full of pride, but what you will know most of all is that you are loved very much." His eyes narrowed at his word choice, knowing where it came from, but smiled all the same to Leon. "Be kind, Leon Munteanu. Do not let the scum of this world make you the monster they see."

"Give it back!" Vera shouted with fury, a hint of a roar in her voice as she glared at her older brother.

"Come get it then!" Vali shouted back, and Alucard could see that he was holding the bone high and away from her grasp.

Adrian watched the two, seeing that this was no longer a game and that Vera was truly upset with this act of theft. "I do not know what is best for you and your siblings." Adrian sighed, careful as he set down little Leon. "But I promise to try my best for the three of you."

The vampire observed a second more of the chase, Vali dashing back and forth away from Vera, the bone dangerously clenched between some of his many rows of teeth, the younger twin was only slightly slower and always just out of reach of her treasure. After observing the pair and finding a pattern of leaps and dashes, the vampire made his move, catching Vali and pinching a small spot on his throat to make him open his jaw and release the bone.

"Stop fighting." Alucard let go of an annoyed Vali who growled batted at Alucard's hands for the bone.

Vera stood where she was, eyeing them quickly and seemingly calculating which of the three, her brother for his thievery, the vampire for holding her treasure, or the bone itself to take it back, to pounce first.

"Where did you get this?"

The white manticore made a low pitiful mewl.

"I'm not mad. Just tell me where you got it."

Another pitiful sound but she turned to her human form as she approached, trying to grab the bone and the vampire giving it back with no argument or fight.

"I found it."

"Where?"

"On the ground."

The vampire was about to ask another more specific question as to where this bone with teeth marks much too old to be Vera's and the scent of that mysterious canine, but more things came to mind. First and foremost this mysterious canine entity did not seem violent, or at the very least somewhat tolerant of the parade more monstrous lion demon that suddenly appeared within its territory. Secondly, the vampire would like to believe that whatever remained of Iarna's upbringing as the dutifully devout Rozalia had been enough to instill the thought that theft was not exactly the best way to make friendships and that the mysterious bone was given to Vera, which would explain why she was so fiercely protective of it. Or perhaps the bone was merely the remnants of some other dog like monster and the adults had no reason to worry lest the thing was undead, but that felt unlikely.

"I'm not mad," he repeated, patting her head. "Just be careful with it."

That was enough for her and she turned her attention to her younger sibling, who had crawled away towards the forest on his little limbs and decided to entertain the infant with another rousing bout of dashes and leaps, and the eldest spawn had seemingly also become bored with his struggle and was now wiggling out of the vampire's hands to play.

"Hold on now," the vampire adjusted his grip on the manticore and held him up. "Listen well because I will only say this once. Your parents and I cannot always protect you, so you need to be cautious with whatever beast, demon or mortal animal, is out there. Not only for yourself, but for your sister and your brother when he is able to join you on your play hunts. That being said, you and your sister best stay far away from whatever that thing is, do you understand?"

Vali's ears were flattened behind his head, his tail mostly held out straight though the barbed tip twitched, his eyes wide and blinking at the vampire.

"I shall take that as a yes." The vampire set the demon down and was met with another manticore pouncing on his foot, that being Leon who looked up at him with questioning eyes. "Yes yes, I shall join your games."

For the hour that followed, Alucard minded the little monsters, the twins let their little brother chase them for a few moments, his little limbs still unsure but doing their damnedest to keep up with the older two and even trying to mimic their high jumps and long dashes, before they began chasing him, which mostly consisted of running circles around him and lightly pouncing at him when he tried to run away only to trip over himself. When they set their sights on the vampire, the game changed drastically for he could move much much quicker than either of them and reveled in the sight of the two trying to catch him as he barely moved a muscle but constantly disappeared and reappeared at his own whims.

They paused shortly as little Leon made crying mewls, at first seemingly in frustration at not being able to catch the vampire, but judging by the foul stench there was indeed a much bigger issue to take care of.

"My god what is your mother feeding you?" Alucard could feel his nose becoming numb at the strong stench and wondering if it was healthy for such large...excrement to be made by something so small. 

"Ew." Vera squeaked as the twins peeked over the vampire's shoulders as he cleaned up the littlest manticore, replacing the dirtied cloth with a fresh and clean one.

"I suppose it is time to head inside," Alucard, holding the soiled cloth far from him with the use of his sword, which he already planned to thoroughly sanitize later, felt a tiny bit of pity for little Leon and wondered why any grown adult would willingly let themselves stay in soiled clothes when an infant cries to the high heavens at the slightest disturbance in their guts. "What is Iarna making that got your father so excited?"

"Guess!" Vali trotted to one side of Alucard, his twin on the other side.

"Can't you smell it?" Vera asked, waving the special bone in the air.

"I failed to catch the scent earlier and now the only thing I can smell is sh-" he stopped, surprising even himself as he was sure he said much fouler words in their presence, much to Iarna's continued chagrin. "Poop."

"Then it's a surprise!" Vera sang, sticking her tongue out at him before the twins rushed on ahead of Alucard and Leon.

"Impatient little things," the vampire sighed, looking down the curious blue eyed baby. "Try to stay little for as long as possible, Leon."

Leon babbled some nonsense in a curious tone.

"Trust me, you'll miss these days when they are gone." Alucard huffed softly, adjusting his grip on the baby as he came to the open kitchen door, seeing the happy family all enjoying themselves.

Iarna was not yet truly familiar with the technology of the castle but had seemed to pick up on a few things, humming as she cooked and even having a little hop in her step. Sitting at the table, hands smelling of food but now unoccupied with anything, Adam sat content, his expression soft and almost entirely human if Alucard were not the wiser. Vali had been quick to join his mother in the cooking, and Vera was sitting on her father's lap, showing the bone again with a bright toothy grin.

His last words on his mind, Adrian smiled at the sight, and walked in.

"Room for two more?" He joked, peeking over her shoulder and noting the ingredients that Iarna had been using, seeing the pot already coming to a boil with more pleasant smells and the distinct scent of mushrooms.

"Ma!" Leon yowled with a smile, reaching for his mother.

"Always my dear golden lord," Iarna smiled back, giving her baby a playful kiss on the cheek. "Did you have fun with your uncle?"

"Uncle?" Adrian raised an eyebrow. True, he was a third caretaker to the the two children that quickly became three, but as an outsider with a deep understanding of what the three truly were and the extra care they would need to better thrive in a world that had yet to even understand all of itself, but that title in particular carried far more weight and connection than the vague caretaker.

"Pardon my lord," Iarna paused her cooking for a moment to hold Leon, the vampire gladly letting the baby wiggle out of his grasp. "Our little talks had me thinking more about family, and well-" she seemed a bit bashful, looking to Adam.

Adam, upon hearing that word, looked up at them, and with all his knowledge of humans, scattered and biased and still a challenge even after all this time, said nothing, returning his attention to Vera as if to say he had dealt with enough of the wild nature of human emotions for the day.

That made Iarna giggle again, holding Leon near effortlessly with one arm as she finished up her cooking and even lightly chastising Vali for messing with the stove in a single swift motion with the use of her free hand. "I hope it's not to bold to include you in our humble clan."

"It's no trouble really," he grabbed a small morsel of a finely diced wild root and was entertaining Leon with its exciting new sight and smell. "Though now that you brought that up, I could not help but notice a certain detail in your story."

"Oh?"

He glanced at Adam, Vera, and Vali, who had scurried to his father after learning he could not play with the cooking fire, and lowered his tone.

"How does an orphan raised by nuns have a grandmother?" His tone was not one of malice but that did not mean there was a layer of something other than curiosity to it. He was sure it was low enough that at least the children would not hear or mind, but it seemed he failed to keep the patriarch from noticing.

"That's a story for tonight." Iarna spoke with that same tone as the night before, her eyes lighting up a bit as Leon managed to catch the chopped root in his mouth only to find it was not to his taste.

"Poo!" Leon spat with disgust.

That word had gotten everyone's attention as it was not yet another instance of the near unintelligible babbling of a clumsy tongue trying to form words or an approximation of one much like his sounds for food or attention from either of his parents, but an actual word in of itself.

"Leon said a new word!" Vera cheered.

"And it's shit!" Vali added.

"Language!" Iarna scolded, though that did not stop her from cooing at Leon with joy and excitement of her own.

Dinner that night was a hearty stew of all the wild things Iarna had deemed perfectly edible, made even more special with Leon loudly proclaiming his opinion of any of the ingredients that he found to have an offensive smell, much to the amusement of Vali, Adam, and even Adrian, who could not help but wonder if his utterance of that word earlier contributed to it being spoken by Leon, feeling glad that he stopped himself for who knows what hell would have been raised should he had continued with no care.

And after all the little demons were tucked in bed, Adam included as he had a new occupation as the official bed for the little ones, Adrian waited in his study for the witch, careful with the wine this time and even found himself scowling at the thing as if it was its fault he had woken up with the headache and uneasy stomach before taking a long sip. Soon enough, the door opened, and there stood Iarna.

"Did you wait long, my lord?" Iarna asked, taking a seat across from Adrian.

"No," he gently slid over the wine glass. "I have no pressing matters to attend to after all."

Iarna looked at the wine, eyes gaining that darkness again.

"Take your time," Adrian assured. "I will not force you to speak of things that are of great trouble to you."

"It's fine Adrian," Iarna took a small sip of the wine, clearly not accustomed to its taste judging by her reaction. She cleared her throat, setting the glass down, and spoke. "I believe I left off by becoming a fugitive of the law."


	4. Today You Will Rise

Food had been running lower and lower with each passing day, the original supply long gone and only meagerly replenished on their singular stop through a town, and attempts to make it last by simply not eating had proven to be a failure for both of the two strays. David had been determined to keep his promise to Crina, whose fate was still undetermined and neither had the heart to go back and investigate by this point in the journey that now lasted a little over a month, and refused to eat more than a single small bite of anything if at all. Rozalia in a similar determination in part by grief refused any food so that a soul more in need, that being her one and only remaining guardian of a thief, could survive. Soon enough however their base human instincts for food became too much and the last of the stolen food was gone, not nearly enough for the two of them.

"I'd sell my soul to find a fat bear," David groaned as he tried to tend to their puny excuse of a fire.

"The bear would eat you." Rozalia argued weakly as she shivered under their only two blankets.

"And save you for dessert," David shot a glaring smirk at her, huffing what could pass as a laugh when she stuck her tongue out at him in response. "Are you going to pray again?"

Rozalia clutched herself tighter though no warmth was there to comfort her.

"What's the point?"

That made David pause and she was sure he looked at her with something of a shocked expression.

"She's not coming. No one is." Rozalia glared at the dwindling embers trying to cling to life. "We're going to die out here and heading straight to Hell."

"Yo don't know that." David said lowly, almost growling if not for the attempt at comfort she had come to familiarize herself with.

"What do you know?"

"Well," David sighed and leaned back, getting as comfortable as he could sitting on the cold frozen earth next to the girl. "If you are a witch I bet you could get us a fire going with that glare of yours."

Rozalia only narrowed her eyes in response.

"Are you actually trying to do that?" He raised an eyebrow.

"If I am a witch then surely my powers would awaken when I need them most." Rozalia leaned back as well, sighing as she rested herself against David's arm. "If I was a witch, I'd conjure us some food."

"Can I make some suggestions?"

Rozalia nodded, her eyes feeling tired and growing heavier with each moment.

"I'll apologize now if I start blubbering but," David sighed as he adjusted himself, careful with the weight on his arm. "My mother made this amazing stew during Christmas. It was the same stew she always made, but with one more ingredient that could only be found during these cold and dark months. There was some meat, chicken I believe, or it could have been goat, with a thick broth, and it smelled wonderful. As soon as I came home and I smelled it, I knew all my troubles, no matter how awful they were, would simply vanish. That special ingredient, the one she could only find during winter, do you know what it is?"

"What?" Her voice was small and frail, but she listened intently to him even with the call of sleep.

"Hell if I know really," David's voice began to waver. "She never told me and...."

There was suffocating silence between them, Rozalia had noticed it but never paid much mind but now she realized that winter simply was more quiet than any more season with little to no animals to fill the air with their tiny chatter, though at this moment she heard another small sound that broke the quiet.

Sobbing.

"I'm sorry-" David gasped. "I'm sorry, Rozalia. I tried. I-" he coughed. "I really did. I can't-I can't find the strength to stand. I can't help you like this. I'm sorry."

She could not understand his words, they all melded together and became gibbering madness to her, but what she could gather from his voice was a weakness she had not seen in him at all. No witty remarks, no assurances, not even a prayer to the Lord the unfaithful thing. So, with what little strength she had, she held his hand and smiled.

"I'll pray for you." Her voice was barely a whisper and it took a while before David responded but by then she had already drifted into a dark slumber.

......

............

Iarna sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"Take your time," Adrian assured her, finding that his hand was reaching for her but he stopped and kept it close, tightly clenching his hands together and silently cursing himself. Even after everything that has happened, he could not bring himself to ask for such a thing of her, despite how much he yearned for even the smallest and comforting touch, be it from the vampire to her or her to the vampire, anything to soothe this ache not unlike starvation, but he could not ask this, not as they were.

"To be honest Adrian," her voice brought him out of his thoughts once again, though this time they were not as dramatic. "I don't really remember what happened next." She looked up at the ceiling, as if trying to imagine those events but unable to recall anything, instead slumping forward to rest her elbows on the desk and her chin in her hand, her other hand free to roam and Adrian noticed that she too tried to reach out but restrained herself. "The last thing I remember that day was hearing David's voice, but everything between then and after are a mystery to me."

"I assume you did not die," Adrian relaxed his hands but kept them together lest they wander on their own again and make a mockery of him. "Unless you truly are something undead and not human."

Iarna was amused by his suggestion and spoke gently. "I am as alive as you are my dear golden lord." She traced the rim of her glass with her finger, having only drunk it once and not a drop more and it seemed Adrian would not be the only one going without drink tonight.

"And that is a debate for the great philosophers of old," Adrian found a laugh, a small one, a mere gasp, escaping his lips. He looked at her and waited. "Are you..."

"Ah." She seemed to have been in a daze. "Of course. Apparently a week passed, and when I had waken up I was in a warm and soft bed and David was fast asleep in a chair next to me. He looked so exhausted but-" she hummed in thought. "Clean?"

......

............

All sorts of thoughts ran through Rozalia's mind as she looked around, still weak but finding some power to pull herself up. An unfamiliar wooden room surrounded her, set aglow with soft light that she could not find the source of. The sheets were soft and warm, and at first so comfortable she had mistaken it for a cloud, or at least what she imagined a cloud to feel like, and was on her way to Heaven, until she saw David, at which point she figured they were both on their way to Hell or David had done some quick prayers to assure his passage past the pearly gates. Thinking of the thief and what little she could have understood of the last things he said to her, she carefully inspected him from afar, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

The thief she had traveled with thus far wore the same plain and somewhat ragged clothes, the same scraggly locks of raven black hair befitting such a quick witted tongue much like the bird of its feather, and the face, from its strong square chin to the small scar on the bridge of the nose, was the man she knew, though what bit of facial hair he had seemed to have grown a bit the last time she saw him. If not for the new scent he wore she wouldn't have found anything amiss.

"D-" she tried to speak, anything really but the name of her guardian was first and foremost in her mind, but her throat ached and her voice was hoarse. "Da-"

At the tiny pained sound of the child, David stirred in his sleep, blinking awake and, at first in disbelief, looked to Rozalia and jumped to her, engulfing the little girl in his arms.

"You're alive!" He gasped with relief and excitement as he held her tight, and under that new clean scent that had somewhat disturbed her was a much more familiar and calming smell. "You're alive, you're awake-" his breath hiccuped again as the words tried to come out all at once. "I thought I lost you." He breathed a heavy sigh, his grip, thankfully, easing away as he sat back down. "How are you feeling?"

"I-" Rozalia still felt weak but not too weak to pull herself up somewhat to look around more closely, still not finding any obvious light source and could only deduce one thing that came out as as the first thing she could say. "Is this Heaven?"

He had been ready to reply but the notion of what she asked stopped him and his shoulders began to heave with one of his bemused laughs. "As far as I care, it can be God's personal chambers."

Rozalia felt herself beginning to glare at the man but his words were a sufficient answer. "Do not use His name in vain."

His hand, still rough with years of what honest work he had done in his life, a bit of carpentry if he was at least an honest thief, clapped down on her head and ruffled her hair, gently as she still felt weak, the gesture she no longer hated a welcomed touch when the last thing she remembered was an unfeeling deathly cold.

A door opened and Rozalia wondered how she could have missed such a thing during either of the times she had tried to figure out where they were, and an old woman came in, dressed somewhat oddly much like the Speakers that came through town once, though she could only see them from afar for they were scholars of the magical arts and to the sisters, even a hesitant Sister Crina, any magic was against the faith, though the attire the old woman before her wore was not entirely so with identical given the amount of bright red flowers and strangely bright green leaves that adorned her short fading brown hair and the vivid and warm looking furs she wore in her attire, though despite the cold outside, the memory of it still fresh in the girl's mind, seemed more suited to a warm autumn and not the blistering colds of winter, and the old woman's bright gray eyes were at first set on David but then quickly finding themselves on Rozalia with a smile.

"Good morning little one," the old woman greeted, "I see you're doing so much better."

"G-" Rozalia looked down, huddling herself into David's arms. "Good morning ma'am." One must understand that while Rozalia was not a fragile child she had not learned many social graces and was meek around those she did not already know, and at this point in her life that already handful of people dwindled greatly, and after so many years of having to hide out of sight, the girl could not really muster anything more than a polite greeting back as she averted her gaze, though her curious blue eyes would glance back at the old woman against the girl's own wishes, for it was hard to stay out of sight in such circumstances.

"A shy one she is," the old woman chuckled a little.

"Well," David chuckled a little himself in turn, still with a hand on Rozalia as if to assure the girl she was safe with this stranger. "She hadn't really gotten out much."

The old woman leaned down a little closer, making Rozalia hide away a bit more. "Flowers need sunlight to grow you know." She spoke to David. "She's still quite pale."

"That's-" David seemed unsure and cleared his throat. "She was born like that."

"Oh?" The old woman was surprised and looked at Rozalia with more curiosity. "I've only seen animals with this condition before." She reached out but stopped just short of Rozalia's hair. "Not to worry little flower, you're safe here."

The old woman stepped away, a relief to the little girl who still could not find any strength to even speak and quite thankfully it seemed she would not have to.

"I really can't thank you enough Miss Florina," David did most of the speaking, his eyes weary but wide awake. "I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"There's no need for that young man," the old woman, apparently named Miss Florina, shook her head. "Your company is more than enough, and-" she glanced at Rozalia, at a distance this time, "of course, seeing your daughter safe and sound."

David nodded, looking to Rozalia and whatever tension he was holding in his body, those being his shoulders and hands, faded away as he let out a small sigh.

"Thank you," he looked to Miss Florina. "For everything."

Miss Florina nodded as well. "You can stay another week. Travelling during the winter is such a troublesome thing."

"Thank you," David bowed his head, and though still silent Rozalia bowed her head as well. "We promise to be perfect guests."

"That's good to hear," Miss Florina made her leave and after hearing her footsteps fade off into the untold depths of the rest of her home, David let out a heavier sigh.

"What's wrong?" Rozalia looked to him, seeing that her guardian had somehow aged in that short moment and looked even more tired than before.

David wiped his face with his hands and smiled at her. "Nothing." He patted her head, pressing his forehead to hers. "Everything's okay now."

Rozalia could tell that something was wrong, David looked ready to collapse but somehow found the willpower to stay up for...

Her...

......

............

"His..." Adrian glanced at his reflection in the wine before looking up at Iarna, "daughter."

"A strange thing, isn't it?" Iarna smiled and chuckled. "When I look back on that day, I see it as the day I renounced my faith in the church, but I was a scared little girl, you see, and could not bring myself to admit it, even to myself in private. But the more I learned of how to work the forest like Florina did and conjure lightning like Petre-"

"Petre?" Adrian raised an eyebrow, for that name was one he had yet to hear.

"Oh!" Iarna gasped softly. "My grandfather! Can't believe I haven't mentioned him yet."

"Florina's lover I assume?" Adrian was tempted to drink, but noticed Iarna's strained smile at the question. "What?"

"Well," Iarna held her hands together. "About that..."

......

............

In the blink of an eye a week had passed, the two tending to chores around the home, which turned out to be a large hollow but still quite alive tree, tending to laundry, cleaning, cooking, and David was patient in his attempts to learn the way of household work, in an attempt to repay Florina's kindness, and before they knew it a week had become a fortnight, and the two were assured they were not a burden on the old woman, and as quickly as two weeks had passed a third had come and gone, for the cold winds of winter still blew strong and what little sunlight there was during the day faded quickly.

During the fourth week, Rozalia, in new warm clothes sewn mostly by Florina with some still rather sloppy but nonetheless strong stitches made by David, had been alone outside. It had been a rare warm winter day and she intended to spend it outside enjoying the cool fresh air and the warmth of the sun while it lasted.

She hummed quietly to herself as she traced shapes and letters in the snow with a stick. David had been out getting firewood, and Florina was foraging for food, assuring Rozalia that all was safe in the forest so long as she respected its residents.

"A is for apples, B is for bread," Rozalia sung as she scrawled letters into the snow. "C is for cats and D is for-"

Rozalia stopped as she saw a shadow looming over her, the shape unknown to her, and she felt something breathing down her neck with a warm huff.

Slowly, she turned around and her heart nearly stopped, for what else could put the fear of God back into such a young soul than staring into the fiery slit yellow eyes of a towering beast with scales as black as coal and sharp leathery wings.

The scream in her throat did not come out loud, instead a mere whimper as the beast blinked and came closer. Rozalia shut her eyes tight, its nostrils flaring with a loud breath before letting out another warm huff.

"B-" she tried to speak again. "B-Begone, demon!"

At her words the beast reared its head back, tilting it as if it understood her words and asked what she meant by them, its eyes blinking but not moving.

"You heard me!" Rozalia clenched her fists and stomped forward, the beast taking a step back in response. "You keep your unholy claws to yourself!"

"Now now-" a voice, older and male but absolutely not the sound of David spoke up, appearing from somewhere behind the beast's lumbering form. "No need for name calling little girl."

The man that appeared wore plain white robes, long hair red but fading and unkempt, and from over his shoulder he set down a large leather bag. He looked at Rozalia, the girl staring back at him in turn, and looked around, turning his attention to the tree house.

"Is the witch home by any chance?" The man asked.

That word sent a hot blazing anger through the girl, but she could only muster the smallest of whispers in response. "She's not a witch."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Well-" Rozalia felt smaller under his, and his winged steed's, gaze. "She is but, s-she's not a mean witch! She's nice and smart and when she gets back she's gonna tell you to leave!"

"So the hag isn't home," the old man sighed and stroked his beard. "Tempest, send the signal."

The beast, apparently named Tempest and sitting quietly as the two talked, rose itself from its laying position and Rozalia watched as its chest began to glow, each individual scale now more apparent from the seemingly unending mass of darkness, and the glow traveled from its chest up its throat and into the sky as the beast shot a steady wave of fire towards the heavens. She could only watch, and she could not help imagine that fire spreading, burning everything it touched and destroying all she loved until nothing but ash and memories remained.

Just as quickly as the fire began, the beast stopped, licking its chops and settlig back down with a thunderous growl in its throat.

"I know I know," the older man patted the beast's snout. "It's not my fault the hag lives out in the middle of nowhere. Damned old witch, making me come all this way for some leaves." The old man began to grumble under his breath before glancing back at Rozalia, at which point he gave a small smile. "And who are you little one?"

"I-" Rozalia stepped back, her hand still holding the stick. "Um-"

"PETRE!" Florina's voice roared as she stomped her way through the snow and towards the old man and his beast. "You stupid old book-hog! You couldn't have sent that signal earlier?"

"Well maybe if you were home I wouldn't have had to send the signal in the first place" Petre, so apparently named the old man, huffed and turned his nose up. "You know it irritates his throat."

"Always excuses with you," Florina huffed and shook her head, putting her hands on her hips. "A dragon who can't breathe fire right." She walked passed Petre and patted the dragon's snout as well. "Maybe if you fed him something other than old goats and raw fish he wouldn't be such rough shape in the first place."

"He's a picky eater!"

"Excuse me!" Rozalia shouted, getting all of their attention, even the dragon. "Can someone please explain what's going on?"

"This is why you send a signal before," Florina glared at Petre, who responded with a sheepish shrug. "Rozalia dear, meet Petre. He knows a bit about magic and keeps this overgrown snake as a pet. Petre, meet Rozalia, she and her father live with me now."

Petre's expression softened as he looked at Rozalia.

"Rozalia huh?" He leaned down a bit. "Don't worry, I do respect ol' Tempest here. If I didn't, I would have been dragon dinner years ago." He chuckled and stroked his beard again and perhaps it was something about the interaction between the two, combined with the fact the dragon had yet to actually make a hostile move towards any of them, that made Rozalia less hesitant of the situation, though she still hid behind Florina.

But one was still missing from the whole, and he came sprinting through the trees with both arms full of sticks of varying thicknesses and his cheeks red with exertion as he looked at the sight before him.

"Aha!" David gasped, out of breath, and dashed forward as best he could, tripping over his feet in the process, as he came up to the group. "Rozalia! I see you've met Tempest." He tried to catch his breath, his hand on the dragon's snout now. "Isn't he quite the sight?" He held out his hand to Rozalia, the girl reaching out before realizing it. "Come on, don't be scared! He doesn't bite."

With David's guiding hand, though still with the image of that blazing inferno in her mind, Rozalia's hand found its way to the dragon, its eyes unmoving as it watched her. Her hand came closer, and the dragon actually backed away from her slightly, which made her flinch herself.

But when her hand touched the smooth black scales, seeing a brilliant shine in them that resembled a rainbow after a heavy storm, and felt the warmth of life underneath them, whatever fear was left had gone away with the rest of all of her doubt.

She looked into the eyes of the dragon, and Tempest looked back, and she saw herself, not only in the reflection, much like gazing into a clear pool of water, but the purest form of a soul, small and earnest and wise in ways she yet to fully understand or put into words, but for now, words were not needed.

......

............

"I still believe Tempest did try to eat me."

"Frozen meat doesn't sound very appetizing." Adrian stood up as well, glass of wine in hand.

"I'm sure a creature that breathes fire would have no problem with that." Iarna grabbed her glass and looked at the drink, both of their glasses still rather full. "Leon should be getting up soon."

"Adam has been worried about that one," he tidied up his desk, a meaningless desk as there was not much of a mess at all to begin with.

"Leon is a bit more needy than his siblings," Iarna thought aloud. "A curious little thing too, always wandering off if I take my eyes off him for even a moment, but so easily frightened."

"Same time tomorrow?" Adrian asked, holding his glass up to her.

When she looked at him, she had that same coy smile as she raised her glass to him, the two at a distance from each other.

"Of course." She nodded and curtsied as they raised lightly tapped the rim of the wine glasses and each took a small sip. "A pity the wine would go to waste without old Tempest."

"Why am I not surprised the dragon has a taste for alcohol?" Adrian rolled his eyes as they set down their drinks and walked to the door, Adrian being a gentleman and holding it open for her. "I am to assume the meal Florina made that day was the same one Adam got so excited about?"

"Meals are always better with family." She smiled at him.

He watched as with a chuckle in her voice Iarna disappeared into the dark of night, the shadows welcoming her with open arms. When her footsteps had become faint enough, her scent still dancing in the air, Adrian returned to the desk and looked at the two glasses that sat still quite full with wine. He reached for his drink and felt himself become hesitant, not wanting to wake up with that sick feeling again.

Instead, he set them on the windowsill, and reached for a book, one from the Belmont archives and of magical nature, and began to read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After so long, Adrian finally catches up on his reading. Truly an achievement. (I'm joking don't kill me)


	5. Open Your Eyes

What little dreams he had that night were a peculiar and bizarre amalgamation of memories and the tale of outlaws and witches and dragons. Such scenes were composed of scattered sensations with few to no logic between them. Sypha's voice in his childhood for instance, or the sight of a black dragon awaiting him in the crypt under the streets of Gresit, complete with Trevor cursing with every ounce of strength within him whenever they rode upon the legendary beast through the skies and battled wave after wave of demons upon the uneven surface of a dragon in flight. But all dreams come to an end, both to much relief and often a times disappointment when what little story there were was simply too good, and the vampire awoke to a sharp cry.

He shot up, half heartedly bothering to try and piece together what happened last night after Iarna-that scream was hers and filled with nothing with shock and terror-made her leave. He had a vague recollection of reading for most of the night after the story, his eyes becoming heavier with each page until even a single line became a blur, and the last thing he truly remember thinking was of resting his eyes for a few minutes, as with three demons running around any work towards repairing the castle and making some use of the Belmont hold had come to a near halt and moved at a snail's pace, though he did have the idea of seeing whether or not Iarna could have some need of new magical things.

Focus! He cursed himself. Something was wrong and he grabbed his sword, rushing to the Munteanu's hold and preparing to strike anything that had no business to be there. Instead, he found Adam in full demon form, eyes ablaze and fangs bared as he stalked past the vampire, Iarna searching the room frantically, the twins in a frenzy trying to decide whether to follow their father or assist their mother.

"Iarna-!"

"Leon's missing-!" She looked to him and he had never seen her like this. He had seen her rage, her kindness, her earnest desire of living only for herself and the family she worked so hard to grow, but this terror was new, not even the night Adam was injured and likely to die matched this fear because at least she could heal his wounds, and did all she could when Adrian himself was the first to walk right towards the fire of hatred for them. Something had whisked away what she loved without her knowledge, without either the father or the vampire able to detect any intruder, and who knows where the child could be at this moment.

Adrian gripped the hilt of his sword tighter.

"I'll look outside." He spoke as steadily as he could but his own uncertainty was no secret.

He began his search, using his speed to comb through each room and hallway, starting with the Belmont hold, trying to discern which between scent trails. Where could have the little demon had gotten, fussy and needy and quick to cry at the slightest upset as he is? How long ago was it? Did someone steal him away? No that could not be possible, he told himself. Unless the phantoms were not mere constructs of his broken mind-

FOCUS, Adrian! He shook his head and tried again. This time, he felt a small breeze, odd for the room had no window. The vampire paused and regained his bearings. panic would do nothing to help the situation, and he needed to be sharp. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting his vampire half take some control.

The scent of rain in all its quiet sorrow and monochromatic melancholy of ashy grays, but in its lament was a promise of better days full of warmth and brightness, an understanding one could not exist without the other, but at this moment the storm was all he could see.

Iarna.

A putrid and bitter scent came next, stinging with sulfur and burning his lungs, the metallic edge of blood never truly dissipating from its owner as if their entire being was created of bloodshed, but as with the storm, there existed something more gentle underneath the massacre; saffron.

Adam.

Wild scents, untamed and unrestrained, if pure freedom had a scent it apparently existed in the aromas of fresh dirt, tall grass, towering trees, all of which were carried on the wind to far off adventure, once they were old enough of course.

The twins, Vali and Vera.

But where was Leon, he asked.

Focus, he repeated to himself. The child could not have gotten too far.

The strange breeze continued, and he followed it to a small hole in the wall, just large enough for a wandering manticore to crawl through.

Something clean, not from lack of trying, fresh and new and trying to find a place in this world, a mere ember of life, precious and delicate to the slightest breath, growing slowly but growing nonetheless, the same scent changing ever so slightly with each passing day.

"It's a start." Adrian had no care for the wall that obstructed his way, nor of what dignity he supposedly had, as he kicked the hole until it was slightly larger for him to crouch down and push himself through. "Where did you run off to?"

Underneath the clean slate however there did exist something unique to the little ember, what one may call a hidden potential of sorts, and it smelled sweet, not unlike fruit or sugar, though the exact nature of this scent was still unknown given the circumstances.

Not too faded, he must have recently wandered, but why? And where?

Amidst the scent of something sweet yet to come, there was a more familiar yet unwelcomed smell that tainted the trail, a predatory thing with dried blood on its maw that stalked the night and prowled just far enough from the castle to not arouse suspicion, minus its very existence.

"Quite bold, aren't you?" He felt a hiss within his throat as the unknown monstrous scent crept in, and he began storming off in the direction of the scent trail, glaring out to the sea of trees and greenery. Whatever it was the creature was no ordinary dog or wolf, though perhaps thankfully Adam had already figured that it was not demonic in nature, not that it would matter at this point in time. "I should warn that you tread a very thin line mutt, and I will not hesitate to end your miserable existence if you dare even think in that puny brain of yours to hurt what is mine."

Whatever it was had only came closer, toeing the edge of some imaginary perimeter but not a single step further, and whatever this creature was it was injured, its blood adrift in the air and his vampire half wanting nothing more than to devour the thing, but he stopped himself, trying to keep in mind his mission and his company, hoping it would ease the anger within his heart as he set out to find Leon but now he kept in mind that whatever was damn near at his doorstop had not moved from where it sat. Alive, its heartbeat yet another nuisance to the vampire's senses along with the blood, but not moving away from the castle.

The vampire had begun to think that the manticore patriarch had little to worry about if the youngest and apparently easily distressed hellspawn could move this quickly on its tiny pudgy limbs that had still, in a thought that made the vampire a bit more concerned for the infant-soon-to-be-toddler's health, yet to figure out how to transform. Focus, he continued onward, seeing Adam's demon form dashing through the air and trees.

Scratch.

There was a change in the air, a tiny movement that was not of any small forest creature, a small whimper, but not Leon's frightened mewlings.

"Leon?" Adrian called out. "It's-" He paused, the story in his mind again at a rather inopportune moment but still what else could he say to the little demon that would convince him to quit hiding and come home? "It's Uncle." He decided. "Leon!"

Closer and closer came the scent of the little manticore, along with the scent of that foul canine that dare to try and enter his domain, and yet he could not help but think that he was missing something as he found himself in the old burrow, somewhat abandoned and mostly untouched ever since he had invited the Munteanu clan to stay at the castle save for the curious forest creatures that roamed about but never truly stayed long with the stench of something arguably unnatural still lingering in the air even after all this time.

He approached the burrow, seeing two small brown forms huddled in the corner, one sitting over the other, their scents intermingling in the vampire's nose as he tried to discern which was which, a task that should be easy for his sharper senses.

"Leon?"

What turned around was not the form of Leon, but a wolf pup, somewhat large given that he was dealing with an unnatural being of vaguely canine persuasion, but given its features, from the small pointed ears, the equally small round muzzle trying desperately to bare its fangs, and fur jutting out at odd angles, whatever this was, perhaps a werewolf he thought with the voice of the Belmont, was not an adult or much of a threat to the vampire.

"Move, mutt." Alucard narrowed his eyes and the pup barked, its voice struggling to sound threatening with its high pitched squeals as it growled and the vampire almost wanted to turn into his wolf form if only to show the little thing what a real intimidating danger looked and sounded like, though one firm step forward and the little monster wolf, with frightened gray eyes, jumped back but for some reason still tried to stand its ground. "How amusing."

Another bark caught his attention, this one deeper and louder than the one pathetic and whining thing in front of him. The vampire turned and saw a large black wolf, fully grown but absolutely not a regular wolf by any means, snarling at him with furious yellow eyes, limping as one of its front legs was injured, the vampire seeing matted and dried blood on its fur.

"Yes yes, you're a big bad wolf." Alucard smirked a little. "I'm shaking in my boots."

The black wolf barked again and stepped forward, its fur bristling.

"Well if you insist," Alucard unsheathed his sword. "Though I only warn you to be polite, this will not be a battle you-"

Something bit his calf, growling and trying to tear at it to no avail. He looked down, calmly, and saw that the wolf pup was responsible.

"Now now child," Alucard picked up the pup by the scruff of its neck, much to the further wrath of the black wolf that barked and growled with more fury at the action. "The adults are talking."

As Alucard moved to, with only some caution, toss aside the wolf pup, the black wolf barked again and lowered its maw, its eyes narrowed at him but its growl still evident in its voice.

"Oh?" He gave the little pup a shake, further inciting the parent's ire. "You want this back? I'll gladly hand over the little shit gremlin before I fully commit to the temptation to flay it, skin it, and make myself some new boots, heaven knows I need a new pair-" that last part he grumbled under his breath. "Under a few conditions of course, if you truly understand what I'm saying."

With another low growl, the black wolf stopped baring its fangs but kept its eyes on Alucard, both of the monsters looking each other in the eye and neither of them wanting to be the first to back down.

"Good dog." Alucard smirked and stepped forward. "Now, first conditio-"

Alucard was cut off by the near sudden arrival of an incredibly enraged to the point of nearly being entirely feral Adam, who pounced on the black wolf, the wolf barely able to dodge the demon that was twice its size. In Alcard's hand the wolf pup whimpered and cried for its parent as the battle begun with mighty jaws snapping and biting and trying to tear at each other. The wolf pup whimpered and cried even more, yelping with all its might and definitely annoying Alucard just as much as its cries were distracting the black wolf, and when Alucard looked in its eyes, the quickest moment as it was thrown to the ground and it looked up at its child, he realized something.

What on earth and in the name of all that could be considered good in this world was he doing?

Why was he allowing this clash of blood and fangs happen?

He heard a scratching behind him, and looked down to see Leon, unsteady from just waking up as if it had been a completely normal nap, with the tiniest hint of budding horns and wide cat-like eyes, and the realization damn near tore his soul, already a fragile and delicate thing as it was, in two.

Adam roared, the sound felt deep within Alucard's being, his human half filled with a primal desire to flee and never look back, hearing various animals around him follow that instinct with no hesitation, and as the roar left his throat, a fire began to take its place.

For a moment, he did not see the manticore.

For a moment, he only saw the various demons he had encountered and killed.

In that moment, Adrian only saw his father.

"ADAM!"

He panted, staring deep into the blue abyss of pure feral hatred and anger, hands held out, using himself as a barrier between the raging manticore that dwarfed him and the heavily injured black wolf weakly trying to get up.

"Shut up," Adrian hissed to the wolf. "I'm trying to save your life." He looked back to Adam. "It seems there's been a huge misunderstanding between us. Put those fangs away and let us discuss this politely like civilized beings."

Adam growled louder.

"You and I both know you won't win." Adrian glared but the manticore did not back down until he heard the familiar and, at this moment a ironic godsend, sound of Leon, not exactly crying but desperately trying to get his father's attention, and the manticore finally step back, his form changing into that of a man but his eyes still narrowed and furrowed in the most expressive form of anger the vampire had ever seen on him, only changing it when approaching the littlest manticore and picking him up, whispering reassurances as any doting parent would. At that, Adrian turned and looked down to the black wolf, who was now being protected, in whatever sense of the word that could possibly be applicable at the moment, by its pup.

"I apologize," he spoke softly. "This forest must have been your home before we came along. I wish to make amends, if that is alright with you."

The black wolf growled but picked itself up, and Adrian watched as the fur began to separate itself from its form but not a hint of red muscle was hiding underneath, instead he saw a human woman with raven black hair, nude much to his horror as he averted his eyes partly because of said nudity and partly because the wounds were much clearer without any of the fur to obscure their severity, and she sat with the bloodied black mess of a pelt on her shoulders, covering her much like a coat. She glared at him with those same fierce yellow eyes, and spoke.

"Do you take me for a fool, vampire?" She panted.

"No." He shook his head. "If anything, I am the fool here."

She heaved a raspy laugh, still bleeding and struggling to keep herself up, the pup still fiercely barking and only stopped by her gentle hand. "Civilized beings? We're monsters, those things especially." She nodded over to the manticores, Adam giving a particularly nasty glare back. "If civilized talk is your goal, go bother those damn humans. I'm sure they're great company."

Adrian gave a gentle smile. "What a coincidence. I know a human who can heal those wounds of yours."

The wolf woman glared at him.

"Now now," Adrian crouched down and extended his hand to her. "She may be human but she knows our plight well."

"Humans lie." The wolf woman growled, clutching her pup close. "They always lie."

"I know." Adrian nodded. "Admittedly, I myself am half human."

At that the wolf woman seemed skeptical, or at the very least and perhaps most worrying she was beginning to lose even the strength to keep up her anger.

"Let us help you," he held out his hand a little further, causing her to shrink away. "Only until your wounds are healed, no more, no less, and we will not bother you or your child again."

Again, on her face was nothing but skepticism, as if she was just waiting for him to let her guard down before finishing the manticore's job, knowing she would not have the strength to do anything about it, but perhaps when she looked into his eyes, she could see he was being genuine, and truly he did mean to heal her and let her and her child be on their way when the time came, and she reached her hand out, hesitant at first but made the barest contact, holding the tips of his fingers with hers.

It was quite a bit work to move the wolf woman to the castle but in matters of pure strength Adrian had little trouble carrying her, though his clothes would surely need a thorough cleaning. As he and a relieved Iarna got to work on healing the wolf woman, Iarna with her magic and Adrian with his science, the two found a moment to talk.

"Where did you learn your magic?" He asked.

"From my grandparents." She replied. "Florina taught me the ways of the forest, Petre the ways of the mountains and sky."

He looked up at her, seeing the sweat on her brow, the light in her focused, as if she had doe this hundreds if not thousands of times, though there was a small fear that her work would not be enough.

"And David?" He asked more quietly. "What happened to him? Surely he had something to say when you brought home a manticore."

Iarna's shoulders went slack as she smiled. "He said he was going back to look for her."

There was a pause as he realized who she was talking about.

"Has he found her?"

Despite her smile, she still looked deeply saddened.

"I honestly don't know. We sent owls to each other, he learned from Petre you see, but one day the owl failed to come. I waited, but...nothing. I have no idea where he is or what he's doing, but I'm confident that silver tongued thief is doing well." She looked up to him, her smile brighter than before with some of that confidence. "I'd know if he wasn't."

He smiled back at her, continuing his side of the medical duties.

"I'm sure he'd be proud of what you've accomplished."

"He would," Iarna looked back down, focusing as well. "Wouldn't he?"

When all was said and done, the wolf woman was moved to a room within the Belmont hold, on the opposite end from the Munteanus as Adam was still rather angry but simmering down but not enough to let the wolf woman be within a certain distance of him, understandably so as the manticore was surprisingly not unscathed from the encounter. Adrian tried to amuse himself with the thought of Trevor coming back to see what he's done with the place, specifically letting in demons and werewolves, but that amusement was short lived as he retreated to his study, Iarna tasking herself with watching over the wolves, assuring the children all was well, though the little ones were quite keen on the emotion turmoil within the castle and were quite restless, specifically little Leon.

"What would you think, Trevor?" Adrian looked to the puppet that sat on his desk.

It stared blankly at him.

"I think it's rather sweet that you've become so welcoming." He said in a rusty imitation of Sypha's voice as he looked to the corresponding puppet next to Trevor's. "Thank you Sypha, you are the more tolerable one." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, holding his hands to his face. "You're doing it again." He groaned to himself. He set the puppets back on their shelf and looked out the window, the sun low on the horizon, the sky changing from blood red with dark clouds to a calm blue full with glittering stas, finally bringing a close to a rather long and tiring day.

His hands, held behind his back, clenched as he thought more about those two, truly wondering if he'd appreciate their presence after so long or if all of his anger, buried under the joy of this new every day life, would surface once more and bring out an ugly side of him.

"And what side would that be?" He asked himself, holding his hand over his chest, the large scar just under the fabric of his shirt. "The vampire that stalks the night and bares its fangs at its frightened prey, surviving only by killing others? Or the human, scared and alone, afraid to be hurt and thus hurts everyone around me to avoid the pain only to yearn for others when the fog of hatred subsides?"

The never ending sky, full of far off stars and planets untouched by man, was perfectly split between its passionate red dusk and its serene blue night from his point of view at the window, and perhaps it had been his imagination but he could have sworn he saw something flying in the distance, a mere speck of movement, its shape indiscernible, his mind torn between seeing the leathery wings of a dragon and the silent feathers of a barn owl, but ultimately deciding it was his mind playing a little trick on him once more.

"I believe I've had enough of today," his voice was low, imitating the Belmont. "Time for drink and a long nap." He sat down and picked up the book that he had been reading. "For once that's not a bad idea Trevor."

His ears, however, picked up a sound coming from downstairs, a little melody that called to him with no hint of anything akin to worry or strife.

"Dinner sounds wonderful now, don't you think?" He looked to the puppets and was only momentarily surprised by them, shaking his head and seeing them as they were, mere cloth and sticks. "I-" he tried to speak, but found no words, instead leaving the study in a hurry and hoping he would not carry the foul mood too far.

Whether the phantoms were coming back to taunt him once more, he could not say, but he knew that what he saw just now was not true.

But...

That damn word still pestered his mind, his thoughts spiraling as he walked and even stopping him in his tracks as he looked to the path that, with some twists and turns, would lead to the gear room he still yet to fix, if-yet another word that haunted him-he still desired to that it.

But if they were truly there, in the flesh...

What would he have done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was kinda feeling iffy on this whole B Plot thing but I think I got it to work out!


	6. I See Beauty

"Sit still-"

"No-"

"Your wounds won't heal properly-"

A growl in response, and the vampire could not help but growl back.

The wolf woman was stubborn, still yet to give Alucard her name in the two days she had been healing in the castle, though some part of the vampire felt that remaining a nameless face would be easier on him when the times came for her departure, surely a much easier task the more she refused to cooperate with Alucard's methods.

"If I get Iarna will you do as I say?" Alucard tried to little success to not sound hostile in his question.

"I have nothing to say to that human." The wolf woman turned her nose up at the thought.

"Yet you only allow her to heal you," Alucard sighed and shook his head. "Is it the magic? I can find a root or two if that would make you more agreeable."

No response, but the wolf woman still slapped away Alucard's hand when he tried to approach her with new bandages, the current ones a bit bloody and ragged from her other stubborn efforts at going about as if she did not do battle with a manticore.

"Fine." Alucard set down the bandages with a huff, giving the wolf woman a glare. "I give up. Get an infection and die already." He hissed and began to walk away, though his ears were quick to catch the sounds of movement, the wolf woman surely more ready to change her own bandages then allow anyone else to do it for her. "Damn pride." He sighed and continued on his way.

In his heart, both because of the behavior on display and because of his own desire, in part a product of the fears that still plagued his thoughts, to rid himself of any that were not already of his company, he knew that the wolf woman and her son would leave, perhaps sooner rather than later and that sentiment was shared by most, though given how the young ones played together so much, especially Leon and the wolf pup, such a departure could certainly only end in heartbreak.

He shook his head. The wolf woman made her feelings clear, she hated everything about the castle, she only tolerated Iarna for the magical healing, and and she certainly could not stand to be in the same room as Adam, and such feelings were mutual between the wolf and the manticore. Speaking of the manticore, the vampire found the demon patriarch watching over the little ones, including the wolf pup, play about as if absolutely nothing had been amiss. Iarna off on her own to find herbs and such, a task Alucard saw no reason to question given he can make an educated guess to the motives of a witch.

The vampire sat some distance from Adam, but within their respective hearing range.

"You're upset."

Adam made no response.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, seeing the slight change in Adam's pupils at the question.

Still, no response.

"Perhaps at another time then?" He continued. "When you are less busy with such an important task?"

Adam let out a loud and unusually warm huff of air from his nostrils, the air around him tinted gray and the vampire was able to catch the slight glow in his chest before it disappeared.

"Now you're just being immature."

The manticore looked at him pointedly, eyes narrowed and mouth twitching with a snarl.

"Use your words then dammit," the vampire gave him a pointed glare back, though no words came in response. Instead that look of careful thought emerged once more, eyebrows furrowed as the manticore tilted his chin downward, shoulders hunching over, and gaze intensely focused on an unseen point in front of him.

"Tonight." Adam finally spoke, his posture loosening from thought from still tense from his previous demeanor, which had been the long way to describe that the manticore had not cheered up in any sense of the word at all, though at least seemed to be more willing to talk.

"Tonight then." Alucard nodded, seeing that Leon and the wolf pup were playing some odd game together consisting of the wolf pup running in tight circles with Leon responding in crawling around and flipping onto his back, or his stomach as the little manticore had seemingly gotten more control of his growing body in a short amount of time, and the wolf pup running around again, crouching and yipping and barking excitedly. "Leon is doing well, don't you think?"

After a small pause, Adam spoke lowly. "I suppose."

"Perhaps we were worried over nothing."

"We?"

"Well," Alucard gave a small shrug, "once you brought it to my attention, I could not help but take notice, I am well versed in medical sciences after all." The vampire noticed that same worried expression, as much as the demon could express his emotions in any case, and felt his hand reaching out. He paused, Adam noticing the gesture and moving away slightly, eyes shifting rapidly between the false rounded human pupils and true demonic slitted ones. "As I said before, we cannot expect him to be exactly like his siblings. He is his own being, and he will grow at his own pace."

Leon sneezed, eyes changing to reflect his demon heritage before changing back, and not one of the other children seemed to notice or care at all.

Perhaps this had been enough to settle the demon's worries, his shoulders easing down, his hands unclenching, though only for a moment as Adam spoke once more.

"Humans are fragile." He spoke with a new emotion the vampire did not yet identify. "Even the strongest will grow weak one day."

Sorrow, Adrian pieced together the words and tone of the manticore.

"Perhaps that is why my father wished to be alone." Adrian added. "To avoid the repetitive misery that comes from a timeless being such as ourselves growing fond of mortals."

Adam did not respond, but there in that silence came an understanding, perhaps too much so. A demon could feasibly live forever given the right circumstances of strength and cunning, carefully watching humanity rise and fall and rise anew from the ashes of its predecessors until the last ember of all creation burned itself out, and Adrian would not lie in thinking that perhaps there did exist some demon older than humanity itself that derived some twisted enjoyment from watching such short lived creatures fight each other for land and control in one generation only to be conquered the next. The vampire would also be lying if he did not think of his own natural lifespan, should he apply that same cunning.

Who was to say he was immortal being? Perhaps he only grew so quickly because of the monster heritage only to live as long as a regular human. He, born of a union that by all means should not have existed in the first place, was something not entirely one or the other and thus which parts of both he had inherited had yet to be seen even after two decades. Could he already be a few steps from death, or merely the beginning of an eternity?

And in the case of the manticore, such questions became more confusing. A different demon, different rules if there were any at all to begin with. Would Adam have to watch his beloved wither away? Would his children grow old as he remained the same? Or, if the half-breeds were of a longer lived persuasion, how long would that be? Would it grow shorter with each generation, assuming no other mingling of demon blood came into question and they only took human lovers, and Adrian found himself quite scared at the thought of the little devils challenging such an already difficult world the more they truly begin to understand what they were.

"Adam." Adrian began to speak again, voice lower than before, a mere breath. "How did you and Iarna meet?"

At the sound of her name, Adam tilted his head up, eyes not on any particular point but with an unmistakable focus as a gentle summer breeze came and went.

"Tonight." He replied.

Adrian had been aggravated at the reserved, or rather more so stunted and underdeveloped, emotional range of the manticore but did not let such frustration show. "Tonight then."

Adam stood, nose twitching as he sniffed the air.

"Go on," Adrian understood that twitch and could hear an unfamiliar heartbeat in the distance, the scent of, for lack of a better word, fresh prey tempting his vampiric half. "I'll watch the little ones."

With a nod, Adam gave a big leap, form dissipating and carried on the wind as it twisted and grew, the scent of fire and brimstone becoming stronger now that Adam did not bother trying to hide his true form.

The vampire let out a sigh, keeping an eye on the little monsters, their games still nothing more than chasing each other and rolling around and nipping and swiping with their little hands and claws. He wondered if they knew about the complicated world of adults; the lying, the scheming, the lack of trust, the selfless and kind becoming nothing more than dirt under the feet of the selfish and cruel. A world so unforgiving that it is expected to be constantly vigilant of danger at every turn, every moment of life spent in fear. How wonderful their world must be, where no intentions were kept secret because intentions were nothing more than simple play and merriment, and to share that joy brought more excitement.

Would it be too much to ask for happy endings? To ask that things never change once happiness had been found? If through some possible means he could stop time and never let it move, would it be selfish and cruel to choose a moment where he and his company were happy? For surely in his moment of happiness someone else in the world was experiencing torment, forever locked in suffering just so he would never know such pain himself?

The wolf pup yelped a bit, Vali stopping in his tracks though testing the ever changing establishment of what amount of strength crossed the line between play and genuine harm by batting some more at the wolf pup, who kept growling and yipping at the movement until Leon bit on his brother's tail, distracting the oldest little beast long enough for Vera to pounce on Vali, and the chasing and running and tumbling were back with no issue.

"Youth is wasted on the young," Adrian sighed, feeling a small smile on his face. In the world of adults such a slight would mean strife and divide, arguing over who would be at fault.

"Already so wise, aren't you?" Iarna's voice surprised him, she was rather close but still at a respectful distance, roughly an arm's length, and she stepped back once he realized it was only her.

"Just realizing I wouldn't have grown so quickly if I knew how terrifying adulthood truly was," he sighed. "The damn wolf is being stubborn again."

"And I couldn't blame her," Iarna sat down, setting the basket next to her. "She's so protective, almost like someone else I know." She gave Adrian a smile and he rolled his eyes.

"I try to tell her my science and your magic are similar but she insists on letting her wounds fester until you can heal them." Adrian sighed.

"The forest is a secretive thing you know," Iarna had a playful tone in her whisper. "If you ask very nicely, maybe it'll let you find what you're looking for."

"Lies." Adrian smirked. "I didn't ask for a bunch of wild things to eat my boots."

The two shared a laugh, knowing that specific pair of old leather had done its best against the gnawing fangs of growing manticores, and Adrian had long accepted that they were no longer of any use to him.

Adrian's share of the joy was short lived, Adam still on his mind as he heard the unfamiliar human heartbeat rise quickly and suddenly stop.

"Did he choose that name for himself?" He asked.

"Hm?"

"Adam." He clarified. "I suppose demons have such a sense of humor, mocking all things heavenly and divine."

"Actually," Iarna began to say, "I gave him that name."

He looked at her and he could see where his words might have sounded offensive.

"You did?" Was all he asked, a bit sheepish as he knew the topic of her past was quite sensitive.

"It's a long story," she answered. "Perhaps tonight, if I'm not busy helping Moon."

"Who?"

"The wolf?" Iarna gave him a confused look.

Adrian kept calm as he now realized what just happened. "Right. Of course." He nodded, eyes back to the little ones. "Leon-"

"Is doing well." Iarna interrupted, gently. "I was a bit worried, apparently I was not much better as an infant," she laughed bit to herself, "but I suppose there is nothing to worry about when we are all so wise in our own ways."

"Indeed." Adrian nodded.

Another day, another dusk, another long while of trying to find some cooperation with the wolf woman while trying not to become too attached, honestly such a fitting name one would think she chose it herself, and another long while of waiting in his study, drink in hand but not taking a sip despite wondering what sort of a story a demon of all things could tell. The sun and its golden light dipped lower and lower beyond the west horizon, casting long shadows of trees that warped into monstrous visages of claws hands before being becoming consumed by the darkness of night, their new shadows much softer and gentler in the lower silver light of stars and-

No. He shook his head. He cannot become attached. The Munteanus were a special case, not the norm. As much fun as it would be to look through the Belmont bestiary to search the world for each and every monster from towering dragons to the smallest of impish fair folk and allow said monsters to take up residence in the Belmont hold, that would also mean opening the castle, his home and personal sanctuary, to outsiders, alongside the fact that with a human settlement so close by they run the risk of drawing a bit too much attention and the vampire, even with all the hatred of humanity that boiled within his heart and soul, found that perhaps senselessly slaughtering them all would, at the absolute very least, be a complete waste of time.

He heard the tell-tale footsteps of the manticore, heavy footsteps that made no attempt to be light or delicate, and in the air was that same bloody scent as before, though thankfully not as rancid and thick.

"Come in." The vampire said, setting down his book and drink, at this point only caring for its aroma and even then it was a delicate line, knowing that the manticore might not have entered without being given explicit permission.

The door opened and in peeked the manticore, chin down, silent, eyes cast to the floor.

"You wanted to tell me something."

Adam moved to the desk with those same heavy steps. The vampire took this seemingly long moment to study the manticore a bit more. He did not walk as a man, his stride slow and lumbering but not lethargic, more so a calculated movement though this was far from the behavior of a confident predator stalking prey, the manticore walked much to warily for that to be the case, and soon enough Adam had approached the desk, eyes still down.

"Why?" Was all he said, voice low and merely a whisper.

"You must be more specific." The vampire knew exactly what he was referring to but wanted to hear it from the demon.

"Why did you bother..." Adam's hands, loosely held but not without the elongated claws, twitched inward, "helping that monster?"

"We're all monsters here." The vampire replied. "Why make it easier for those idiot humans by killing fellow beasts and terrors?"

Silence grew but the vampire was patient, and his patient had not been for nothing as the manticore walked over to the window, eyes still cast down.

"I can never understand humans." Adam said. "So weak and short lived, and yet..." he paused, looking out to the night sky. "And yet some refuse to die quietly. Some will scream with all their fury until their throats are torn apart. Some with continue to fight even when their bodies have been broken. Again and again they refuse to die. More curiously, they refuse to let others die. Why do they insist on letting others suffer merely because they cannot accept the inevitable?"

The vampire stayed silent.

"Iarna thought I..." Adam's voice almost shook, and he stopepd himself as if he might have actually been afraid of what the vampire might think if his voice so much as slipped from the usual stony mannerism it held. "She did not know me. She did not know what I was. But even when she thought I was human, hurt by a so called fellow human, she did not hesitate to reach out to me and stay by my side."

"Was that how the two of you met?" Adrian asked.

Adam's head tilted upward for a moment.

"She is the second human that has ever made me feel...anything."

Adrian was about to ask again, this time as to who might have been the first, but given what he knew of the manticore, which he realized had not actually been much information especially in regards to his past, the vampire was almost certain he could figure out the identity of the first, and he would not blame the monster for even having a bit of anything akin to respect, or at least anything besides complete and total disinterest, for the monster hunter.

"Even after she knew what I was..." Adam's voice became so soft and airy, if the vampire not been any the wiser he could not see the cheat of false humanity, and since he was privy to knowing, he almost felt himself amused at the fact that a demon was capable of such genuine emotion. "She gave me a name. She gave me children. She gave me a reason to live. So I ask again, Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes-"

The vampire felt his blood run cold and simultaneously burn with fury at the sound of his true name being spoken when he was also quite certain he had not told the manticore this information, the conflicted emotions resurging as the manticore turned to face the vampire and the expression on his face was clear and pure anger, more so than any of the expressions Adrain had ever seen before, even the one during the battle with the wolf.

"Why would you let that wolf into the safe haven of the ones I hold dear?" Adam's voice was a hiss, his fangs bared and his eyes not even hiding their true demonic nature.

The vampire remained as calm as he could, knowing that should this escalate, and he was certain that would not be case, that he could handle himself well so long as he did not let his emotions get the better of him. He stood and walked around the desk to better face the manticore.

"The same reason I let the lot of you in." Adrian felt a smile on his face but knew that his heart was not in any way happy at the moment. "I was scared of being alone. Even after what happened to me, I could not stand the thought of being the only soul in this big place. Call me a fool, try to kill me at your own risk, but I would be damned before I let anyone else feel that same crushing and suffocating isolation that I have felt. Besides," Adrian felt that smile turning into something of a smirk, seeing Adam's anger become something like confusion. "The children have been getting along quite well, it'll be damn near impossible to separate them now, and I'm sure you do not want to be the one to explain why they cannot play with their new friend."

Adam's facial expression softened, still confused and with that same concentration wrinkling his forehead, before finally he closed his eyes and tilted his chin downward, and when he opened them again, head up, he seemed to be satisfied with the answer, at least enough to return to the stoic blankness he usually held.

"I believe the humans would say we are birds of a feather." Adam almost seemed amused given the small change in tone as he spoke.

"Yes yes, very funny." Adrian shrugged. "Now if that's all you wanted to talk about, I have some reading to do."

"I still do not like the wolf." Adam said as he made his leave.

"You and me both." Adrian closed the door and waited for the scent of blood and saffron to become far enough away, the footsteps becoming fainter and fainter, before he locked the door and pressed his back against it, covering his face and sliding into a seated position. "Oh my god-"

That certainly could have gotten worse, and who knows what better could even mean in this household of monsters, but Adrian's heart pounded as the manticore's voice echoed in his head.

How did he know his name? Did Iarna say? No, not Iarna. She may be earnest with only a little trickery to her name but she would not break her promise, would she? Then again, the happy couple did know Lisa, and if Adrian knew his mother he knew that she would not stop talking about her precious son if given even a single opportunity. 

So why would the manticore not say it sooner? And why choose now, and especially in such a hateful tone, speak it now?

Perhaps out of some respect, whatever that word meant to the demon. Iarna certainly put two and two together that Goldy, the almost forgotten pet name given to him by the twins, and Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes were one and the same, though whether the demon would have any reason to care for such details was another question, and if this whole experience with Moon was any indication the demon was quite selective of what information he cared about.

Moon...

The wolf...

Adrian let out a sigh. Even if, that same haunting word once again coming to plague his mind, he wanted her to stay, that was a decision she had to made and he would have to respect whatever she chooses. For all he knew, she could be gone by tomorrow, disappearing into the woods with her son close behind, never to be seen again.

"Looks like I'll be having a drink after all," Adrian's voice was in the same low imitation of Trevor, though something was not quite right about the tone. "That is a problem for tomorrow." He took a sip of the drink, small and fleeting, before taking a longer swig of the wine as he sat at his desk and reached for his book.

Soon enough, morning came, and Adrian felt uncertainty in him as he went to go check on Moon, some part of him expecting her to have vanished without a trace, an impossibility given he'd know if she so much as moved from one end of the room to the other, but some part of him felt relieved to see her resting on the floor, arms around her son as if her body was a shield for the little pup.

"Good morning-"

Iarna's voice startled him, and his shock startled her.

"Apologies my lord-" Iarna stepped back sheepishly. "I did not meant to frighten you."

"N-no," Adrian assured her. "I was-" he found he could not meet her eye. "I spoke with Adam last night."

"I noticed," Iarna nodded, the two keeping their voices low as they began walking, and given the route they both seemed to he heading to the kitchen. "He was in such a temper before but whatever you said to him cheered him up. I believe I must thank you for that."

"He actually did most of the talking, surprisingly." Adrian admitted, still remembering that look the manticore had given him. "Though there is something he said I would like to ask you about."

"Oh?" Iarna looked at him curiously. "What would that be?"

"He said-" Adrian felt his face becoming a bit more heated, wondering what about this he felt so flustered about. "He mentioned that you gave him a name. Did he not have one when you two met or was it in a language meant for beings with five tongues and a thousand teeth?"

Iarna giggled at that. "No no, I-" she paused. "I don't believe demons like him are given a name at all. He was created, not born like you and me. Perhaps the name I chose was a bit, hmm," she hummed for a moment as she thought, "bold, but what was I suppose to refer to him as? Manfred the Manticore?"

Adrian made an unsightly noise at the suggestion, chuckling and unable to hide it and Iarna could not help but chuckle as well until the two were laughing away and perhaps it was for the best for the both of them. After all he knew so little of them, and they only knew so much about him, and yet while they did not need to know each and every detail, these little talks had given them such a greater understanding that it took the vampire a moment to realize that she had placed her hand on  
his shoulder.

When he did notice, he froze, but whatever parts of him that were afraid of harm had been drowned out by the parts that accepted this gesture, however fleeting it may have been given that Iarna pulled her hand away upon seeing his reaction. The two were in silence again, almost halfway through preparing breakfast before either of them spoke again.

"Did you ever think this is what your life would become?"

"Hmm," Iarna answered almost immediately. "No. When I changed my name, I vowed to live with confidence that I would withstand whatever the word would throw at me, and not be that fearful little girl anymore, but that did not prepare me for demons and vampires and werewolves."

Adrian let out a little huffing laugh. "Wasn't your grandfather taught by the Devil?"

"Oh hell if I know," Iarna replied, laughing a bit herself. "All he said is that he was taken to a mountain and didn't return for seven years."

"A school in the mountains," Adrian recalled the rumors of such a place, where one could learn all sorts of things from all sorts of wicked spirits that called themselves demons. "Fitting name, almost as if someone chose it for themselves."

Iarna gave him that same coy smile. "When everyone tells you that you're wrong just for existing, it's difficult to find anything to like about yourself, but it is possible, Adrian." She looked at the little ones with pride. "And you come to love even the worst parts."

"You accepted that you were born human." Adrian nodded. "What of someone like me, both halves capable of doing such horrible things and yet unable to tell which side is truly worthy to be called a monster?"

"Perhaps it is not what runs through our veins that define us," Iarna suggested. "One human can be a saint, another can be more monstrous than a demon, and most are somewhere in between, don't you think?"

Adrian felt his chest tighten. "I still hate them for what they've done." His voice low, but no anger or even sadness was present.

"And I will not judge you for that." Iarna spoke in a similar tone.

He remembered that she had admitted to feeling hate, but some part of him doubted that she had been entirely honest when she said those words for how could someone kind and gentle Iarna ever hold hate? His answer, one he was quick to come to, was that she was born with such hate, and not simply because she was born human, as from the very moment of her birth she was hated, but what little love she could hold on to was stronger than that fire. What hate Sister Sandra had for the girl was nothing compared to the love Sister Crina showed. What hate the little brat Angela used to toss around and hiss such vile words were of no concern when David was quick to appear, almost as if he was watching over the little girl when others could not. What hate there was towards other humans were quickly forgotten when it appeared that one was suffering unjustly just as she had. All the hate she she endured all her life was nothing to the hate in her own heart that waited for its chance to emerge and strike.

Or perhaps that was his own thoughts on such things.

Adrian reached out to her, silent, his heart racing as time slowed down. Was this the right thing to do, he asked himself. Was he doing something foolish? Was he making a mistake? In all logical thought he should not be afraid of such a tiny gesture but the thought of any touch sent such a rush of fear through him that even the small bit of contact from just moments ago could startle him, even again by all logical thought it should not have been so. How would she respond if-

Her touch was cold, physically, but gentle as she held his hand loosely, and her smile was all he needed to see to know that he had no reason to be afraid of being on the wrong end of this woman's hatred.

And he smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My imaginary/self-imposed deadline was super close but technically you didn't need to know that but hey this fic was actually kinda fun to write? besides letting it sit for a week or so because of my awful procrastination? Hope you enjoyed this story and I'll see you in the next fic!

**Author's Note:**

> Something between a sequel and a side story to Lusus Naturae, leaning towards the former. Enjoy!


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